Chapter 13 - When the Lights Went OutThe storm arrived before nightfall.
Wind bent the trees until their branches scraped the windows like fingernails. Rain sheeted across the estate grounds so heavily the security lights became blurred halos in the dark. The private road flooded first. Then the lower garden. Then the path leading toward the old cistern vanished beneath rushing water.
Rowan ordered everyone into the interior rooms.
No one slept.
Dalia sat in the library with Milo on one side and Bobby on the other. Serena stood near the fireplace, arms wrapped around herself. Mrs. Hargrove moved between rooms with blankets and tea no one drank.
Celia had finally emerged.
She sat near the window, watching the storm as if expecting an old friend.
Massimo paced.
“This is foolish,” he said. “Daniel wants us watching the woods. That means he’ll come through the house.”
Rowan stood near the doorway with Nico. “Or he wants us to think that.”
Dalia looked at the windows.
Every flash of lightning turned the glass into mirrors.
She kept seeing herself reflected there.
Pregnant.
Trapped.
Waiting.
At 9:17 p.m., the lights went out.
The estate fell into blackness.
For one second, there was only storm.
Then backup power hummed.
Emergency lights flickered red along the hallway.
Bobby stood so fast Milo fell backward.
“What is it?” Dalia whispered.
The dog stared toward the servants’ corridor.
Nico spoke into his radio. “Report.”
Static answered.
Rowan’s hand moved beneath his jacket.
Massimo cursed. “Jammers.”
A scream came from the kitchen.
Mrs. Hargrove.
Rowan moved first.
Dalia grabbed Milo’s hand and pulled him behind the sofa. Serena rushed toward them. Celia remained seated, too calm.
That calm scared Dalia more than the scream.
Gunshots cracked somewhere in the rear of the house.
Milo clamped both hands over his ears.
Dalia held him against her side, her other hand over her stomach.
Bobby did not wait for command.
He launched into the hall.
“Bobby!” Dalia shouted.
Too late.
The dog disappeared into red-lit darkness.
Serena sobbed, “Milo, stay down.”
He shook beneath Dalia’s arm.
Minutes stretched.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Rowan returned carrying Mrs. Hargrove.
Blood ran down the side of her face.
Dalia’s heart stopped.
“She’s alive,” Rowan said before anyone asked.
Nico followed, dragging a masked man by the collar. The man was unconscious.
Massimo ripped off the mask.
No one recognized him.
But Celia did.
Dalia saw it in her eyes.
Rowan saw it too.
“Who is he?” Rowan asked.
Celia looked away.
Massimo grabbed the unconscious man’s wrist and found a tattoo near the thumb.
His face darkened. “Rossi crew.”
Rowan turned to Celia. “Why is a Rossi soldier in my house?”
Celia’s mouth tightened.
The Rossi family had been Fiero enemies for decades. Dalia knew only because even household staff whispered about old names with care.
Serena stepped forward. “Daniel is working with the Rossis?”
“No,” Massimo said slowly. “Daniel doesn’t have that connection.”
Everyone looked at Celia.
Celia rose.
The emergency lights carved shadows beneath her cheekbones.
“You have all become sentimental,” she said.
Rowan’s voice dropped. “What did you do?”
“What your father was too weak to finish.”
Dalia felt the room tilt.
Celia continued, “Daniel and Serena should have been erased with Mara. Instead, Carlo paid her, visited her, wrote letters, built a fantasy that blood could be managed kindly. Kindness made this night. Kindness made Daniel. Kindness made that girl’s child a fuse.”
Rowan stepped toward her. “You sent men into my house.”
“I sent men to end a war before it begins.”
Milo whispered, “Mom?”
Serena moved in front of him.
Celia looked at Dalia.
There was no hatred in her face.
That was the worst part.
Only certainty.
“I am sorry,” she said. “But that baby cannot be born.”
Bobby’s bark exploded from the hall.
Then the front doors flew open.
Wind and rain blasted through the foyer.
Daniel Marsh stepped inside with three armed men behind him.
His suit was soaked.
His smile was perfect.
“Well,” he said, looking from Celia to Rowan to Dalia. “This family meeting started without me.”
Rowan lifted his gun.
Daniel lifted one hand.
“Careful,” he said. “I brought insurance.”
One of his men shoved someone forward.
Mrs. Hargrove gasped from Rowan’s arms.
Dalia’s blood turned cold.
Nico’s youngest guard, barely twenty, stood with a gun pressed to his head.
Daniel looked at Dalia.
“Come here, sweetheart.”
Rowan’s voice was lethal. “No.”
Daniel smiled wider.
“You still think this is about you, brother?”
The word landed like thunder.
Brother.
Rowan did not flinch.
May you like
Daniel’s eyes shone.
“Good. Someone finally told you.”
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