Chapter 8 - The Siege of Wabash Meridian
The peace didn’t last.
At 4:00 AM, the penthouse security system shrieked—a high-pitched, automated alarm that shattered the silence of the night.
Red emergency lights flashed on the baseboards.
Adrian was out of bed in a fraction of a second, pulling a heavy Glock from the hidden biometric safe beside the headboard. His demeanor shifted instantly from vulnerable lover to ruthless syndicate boss.
“Stay in the safe room,” Adrian ordered, grabbing a tactical vest and pulling it over his black t-shirt.
“What’s happening?” Nora asked, pulling a silk robe around herself, her heart pounding in her throat.
“Viktor Vance’s men breached the ground-floor security,” Adrian said, his voice cold as ice. “They think they can take the penthouse while the storm blocks police response.”
Before Nora could argue, the heavy steel-reinforced doors of the penthouse lobby exploded inward with a deafening blast. Glass shattered. Smoke filled the corridor.
Shouts echoed through the luxury suite. Gunfire cracked—sharp, deadly, and terrifyingly close.
Adrian pushed Nora behind the reinforced concrete pillar of the master suite. “Stay down!”
He stepped out into the hallway, firing with chilling, lethal precision. Two men in tactical gear dropped instantly.
More poured in from the private elevator shaft. Adrian was outnumbered three to one.
Nora watched in horror as a massive thug crept up behind Adrian, raising a silenced pistol toward his back.
Without thinking, driven by pure survival and a fierce, consuming love, Nora lunged forward. She grabbed a heavy, bronze art sculpture from the entryway console and hurled it with all her might.
The bronze statue caught the gunman square in the temple. He collapsed unconscious to the floor.
Adrian spun around, his gun raised, eyes wide. He saw Nora standing there, trembling, holding the heavy base of the sculpture.
He didn’t yell at her for not staying hidden. Instead, a terrifying, savage grin spread across his face.
“Remind me never to piss you off, Ms. Ellison,” Adrian growled.
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Together—the syndicate boss and the interior designer—they held the line until Adrian’s private tactical reinforcements swarmed the building, sweeping through the floors and neutralizing Viktor Vance’s men.
***
