Chapter 3 - The Siege
The estate was violently attacked exactly one week later.
Clara was in the massive industrial kitchen, chopping vegetables for the staff dinner.
The first explosion shook the foundation so hard that the heavy copper pots crashed to the floor.
Alarms began to scream.
Gunfire erupted from the front gates, sharp and deafening.
The kitchen staff panicked, running toward the servant exits in a chaotic stampede.
Clara dropped her knife and backed against the stainless steel counter, trying to breathe.
Suddenly, the kitchen doors burst open.
Three men in tactical gear stormed in, their assault rifles raised.
They were not estate guards.
One of the men spotted Clara hiding behind the counter and aimed his weapon.
Before he could pull the trigger, the glass skylight above them shattered inward.
Arthur dropped from the catwalk, landing with the heavy, lethal grace of a predator.
He fired his suppressed handgun twice before his feet even settled.
Two mercenaries dropped dead instantly.
The third spun around, but Arthur was already moving.
He closed the gap, disarming the man with a brutal strike to the throat.
Arthur snapped the man's neck with a sickening crunch and let the body fall.
The entire exchange took less than four seconds.
Arthur turned to Clara, his chest heaving, his dark eyes entirely devoid of humanity.
He looked like the monster the world believed him to be.
He walked toward her, grabbing her arm with a grip like iron.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded, his voice a terrifying bark.
“No,” Clara gasped, trembling uncontrollably.
“I’m fine.”
Arthur did not let go.
He pulled her out of the kitchen, dragging her through the hidden service corridors.
They could hear Enzo and the estate guards engaging the remaining hostiles in the foyer.
Arthur did not join his men.
He shoved Clara into his private panic room behind the wine cellar and sealed the heavy steel door.
“Stay here,” he ordered, checking the magazine of his weapon.
“What about you?” Clara asked, her pragmatism finally cracking.
“I am going to kill every single person who stepped on my grass.”
He punched a code into the keypad, locking her safely inside.
Clara sank to the floor in the dark, clutching her knees.
He had abandoned his men.
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He had abandoned his command post.
The most ruthless boss in the city had risked his entire empire just to pull a maid out of a kitchen.
