Chapter 4 - Betrayal in the Dark"Down!" Lucas roared. He launched himself across the desk, tackling Hannah to the floor just as a hail of bullets tore through the oak furniture and shattered the bookshelves behind them.
Hannah screamed as splinters and glass showered over them. Lucas shifted his body, completely covering her with his frame, protecting her head and neck with his arms. The smell of cordite and gunpowder instantly filled the air.
Outside, alarms blared, and the thunderous sounds of a firefight erupted across the estate grounds. Shouted commands in a foreign language echoed through the hallways.
"Krasniqi's men," Lucas hissed against her ear. "They bypassed the perimeter sensors. Someone gave them the security codes."
"How?" Hannah gasped, clinging to his shirt, her heart pounding violently against her ribs.
"There's a mole in this house," Lucas said, his voice terrifyingly calm despite the chaos. He reached under his arm, drew his custom sleek black pistol, and flicked off the safety. "Stay behind me. Do not leave my sight."
He stood up in a low crouch, pulling Hannah up by her wrist. Victoria was firing through the broken doorway, her expression fierce. "They're coming up the east wing! The guards are pinned down!"
"Where is Marcus?" Lucas demanded, referring to his chief of security.
"He went to secure the server room!" Victoria yelled back over the din of gunfire.
Lucas's eyes narrowed. "The server room? The decryption process is happening in the west wing." A dark realization washed over his face. "Marcus..."
Suddenly, the firing in the hallway stopped. A heavy silence fell over the corridor, broken only by the crackle of distant flames and the groans of wounded men.
A figure stepped into the ruined doorway of the library. It was Marcus, the trusted head of security who had served the Valentasi family for over a decade. In his hand was a silenced pistol, and behind him stood three heavily armed men wearing tactical gear with the eagle crest of the Krasniqi clan.
"I'm sorry, Lucas," Marcus said smoothly, raising his weapon. "Marko offered a price that even the great Valentasi empire couldn't match. Besides, your family’s reign ended the day your father died. You're just holding onto a ghost."
Lucas didn't flinch. He kept Hannah behind his back, his body acting as an impenetrable shield. "You sold out my brother, didn't you? Two years ago at the warehouse."
"Michael was getting too smart," Marcus admitted with a cold shrug. "He was tracing the offshore accounts I set up for Marko. I had to put him down. And tonight, I finish the job."
Hannah felt a surge of pure horror and rage. The man responsible for ruining her life, for murdering Michael, was standing right in front of them.
"You won't leave this house alive, Marcus," Lucas said, his tone deathly quiet.
"Maybe not," Marcus smirked. "But neither will you. Kill them."
Before the gunmen could pull their triggers, Victoria dropped to her knee and fired twice, hitting the gunman on the right. Lucas moved with terrifying speed—he stepped forward, ducked beneath a spray of bullets, and fired three precise shots. Two hit the second gunman; the third caught Marcus in the shoulder.
Marcus stumbled backward with a grunt of pain, dropping his gun. "Fall back!" he screamed to the surviving men, scrambling down the hallway toward the emergency stairs.
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"Victoria, call in the reinforcements from the docks!" Lucas commanded, already giving chase. "Hannah, stay here!"
"No!" Hannah shouted, refusing to be left behind in the dark. She grabbed a heavy brass statue from a fallen side table and ran after Lucas. "I'm coming with you!"
