Chapter 7 - Sirens at the GatesFor three seconds, nobody breathed.
Then the estate erupted.
Bruno lunged toward Emma.
Clara grabbed her daughter and twisted away.
Alejandro moved faster than a half-poisoned man should have been able to move. He stepped between Bruno and the child, caught Bruno’s wrist, and shoved him back against the security console.
The impact rattled every monitor on the wall.
Bruno looked stunned.
Not because it hurt.
Because Alejandro had chosen the child over him.
From the phone in Emma’s hand, the dispatcher repeated, “Hello? Is anyone there?”
Clara snatched the phone. “A man has been poisoned. We need police and medical help at the Moretti estate. There are armed men inside.”
Bruno’s eyes went black.
“You stupid woman.”
Alejandro’s hand closed around Bruno’s throat and slammed him harder against the wall.
“Say that again.”
Sofia backed away toward the corridor.
A guard moved to follow her, but Luca stopped him.
Luca still had his gun out.
Only now it was aimed at Bruno.
The room froze again.
Bruno stared at Luca. “What are you doing?”
Luca swallowed. “My brother died for Mr. Moretti.”
“Your brother died for this family.”
“No,” Luca said, voice cracking. “He died because you sent him to the wrong warehouse and told my mother it was an accident.”
Alejandro turned slightly.
“What?”
Bruno said nothing.
Sofia used that moment.
She ran.
Clara saw the flash of black dress disappear down the corridor.
“She’s going!” Clara shouted.
Alejandro released Bruno and stumbled.
Doctor Vale caught him.
“Sit down or you’ll collapse.”
Alejandro pushed him away. “Lock the gates.”
Luca barked orders into his radio.
For once, the house obeyed someone other than Bruno.
Outside, sirens began faintly in the distance.
The sound grew quickly, winding through the cold October night toward the iron gates of the estate.
Sofia knew the grounds better than Clara expected.
She did not run to the front.
She ran west, toward the old winter garden, where deliveries came in before dawn and where one gate had a broken camera Bruno had promised to fix for months.
Clara chased without thinking.
“Mommy!” Emma cried behind her.
“Stay with Mr. Moretti!”
The winter garden was glass and shadow. Moonlight spilled over dead vines and marble statues. The air smelled damp, green, and forgotten.
Clara entered just in time to see Sofia opening a side door.
“Sofia!”
The woman turned.
For the first time, her perfect face cracked.
“You think he’ll protect you?” Sofia hissed. “You’re a maid with a sick child. He’ll use your loyalty and bury you with everyone else.”
Clara stepped closer.
“You don’t know anything about loyalty.”
Sofia reached into her coat.
Clara froze.
A small silver pistol appeared in Sofia’s hand.
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“Actually,” Sofia said, “I know exactly how much it costs.”
Then the glass ceiling above them shattered.
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