Lily stood near the island, holding a wooden spoon like a sword while the cook crouched beside her.
When she saw me, her face brightened.
“You still have the colors!”
Then she noticed the guards.
Her smile vanished.
“Mommy?”
Elena dropped to her knees and pulled Lily into her arms.
“It’s all right, sweetheart.”
But children hear fear even when adults hide it.
Lily looked at me.
“Is Buttons in trouble?”
I realized I still had the battered rabbit tucked beneath one arm.
“No,” I said. “Buttons is safe.”
A sharp crack sounded outside.
Then another.
Gunfire.
Elena covered Lily’s ears.
The guards shifted into position.
“Safe room,” Vincent ordered.
I took Lily before Elena could protest.
The child clung to my neck, trembling now.
“What was that noise?”
“Thunder.”
She looked toward the ceiling.
“But thunder is in the sky.”
“This house is strange.”
That answer seemed to satisfy her for half a second.
Then another burst of gunfire echoed near the gates.
We moved quickly down a hidden corridor behind the pantry. Elena stayed close beside me, one hand pressed to Lily’s back.
The safe room was buried beneath the mansion, protected by reinforced steel and an independent ventilation system.
Once inside, Vincent sealed the door.
Four guards remained with us.
A bank of monitors showed every camera around the property.
Two black SUVs had crashed through the outer barrier. Men in dark clothing moved between trees, firing toward the house.
“They’re not here to negotiate,” Vincent said.
My gaze moved across the screens.
“They’re drawing attention.”
“What?”
“There are too few of them to take the mansion.”
Vincent understood immediately.
“A distraction.”
A warning alarm sounded.
One of the guards turned to the security panel.
“Motion detected in the west service tunnel.”
No outsider knew that tunnel existed.
No outsider should have known.
“Someone gave them the plans,” I said.
Vincent’s face hardened.
The tunnel camera flickered.
Then went black.
