Chapter 17 - The Storm Below the Cliffs.
Marco’s voice came through the speaker over the sound of wind.
“You finally learned how to feed your own son.”
Lorenzo’s face hardened.
Hunter looked toward the nursery windows.
Rain had begun striking the glass.
“Where are you?” Lorenzo asked.
“Close.”
Marco laughed softly.
“You always thought closeness meant loyalty.”
“That was your weakness.”
Lorenzo handed Leo back to Hunter.
“What do you want?”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
“Then I release everything.”
“Release what?”
“Names.”
“Accounts.”
“Judges.”
“Police.”
“People who have spent twenty years pretending they never accepted money from this family.”
Lorenzo glanced at Gabriel.
Marco continued.
“You lose the businesses.”
“Mother loses the house.”
“Leo inherits ashes.”
Hunter watched Lorenzo’s expression.
Old Lorenzo might have answered with a threat.
This Lorenzo looked down at his son.
“Then burn it.”
Marco went silent.
Lorenzo repeated himself.
“Burn every account.”
“Release every name.”
“I am done trading people for this empire.”
Hunter felt something inside the room shift.
Marco heard it too.
“You think that maid made you righteous?”
“No.”
Lorenzo’s voice remained steady.
“My wife tried to make me see it.”
“I was too late.”
“I will not be too late twice.”
The call ended.
Seconds later, the estate lost power.
Backup generators should have started immediately.
They did not.
Gabriel cursed.
“The lower system was cut.”
Emergency lights came on.
A loud impact sounded from the west side of the house.
Then another.
Guards shouted over radios.
Hunter moved toward the interior hallway.
Gabriel blocked her.
“Not that way.”
“Why?”
“Glass damage near the west stairwell.”
Lorenzo pointed toward the service lift.
“Safe room.”
Hunter carried Leo while Isabella followed.
The service lift stopped between floors.
The lights died completely.
Leo began to cry.
Hunter held him close.
“Easy.”
A metallic scraping sound came from above the lift.
Isabella whispered, “Someone is on top.”
Hunter’s heart slammed against her ribs.
The emergency hatch moved.
A hand appeared.
Hunter backed into the corner with Leo.
The hatch opened.
Adrian Cole looked down at them.
“Give me the baby.”
Isabella stepped in front of Hunter.
“You will have to come through me.”
Adrian lowered himself into the lift.
He held no gun.
That somehow made him more frightening.
He moved toward Isabella.
Hunter saw the emergency release lever beside the door.
She shifted Leo to one arm and pulled it.
The lift doors opened six inches onto the service level.
Hunter shoved Leo carefully into Isabella’s arms.
“Go.”
Isabella squeezed through the gap.
Adrian grabbed Hunter’s wrist.
She kicked the lower door panel.
The lift jolted.
Adrian lost his balance.
Hunter pulled free and squeezed through after Isabella.
They ran into the dark service tunnel.
Behind them, Adrian forced the doors open.
Ahead, the tunnel split toward the cliffs.
Somewhere above them, glass shattered again.
The storm covered the sound of movement through the tunnels and made every direction feel uncertain.
Hunter realized the power failure was not merely an attempt to frighten them.
It had forced the security system onto a smaller emergency network and opened routes that normally remained magnetically locked.
Marco had waited until Lorenzo gathered investigators, guards, and family into one place, then used the storm to divide them.
Hunter tightened her hold on Leo.
She had spent weeks believing powerful men controlled every room they entered.
May you like
Now she understood that power was often just knowing which door would open when the lights went out.
And from the black passage on the left, Marco Rossi stepped into view.
