CHAPTER 8: THE PENTHOUSE FIREFIGHT
The heavy oak front door swung open silently, and Salvatore’s elite enforcer stepped into the dimly lit foyer with his weapon raised and ready. Before he could sweep the hallway, a heavy crystal vase shattered violently against the back of his helmet.
Emma bolted down the corridor toward the panic room built into the master suite, her bare feet flying across the imported hardwood floors. The assassin recovered instantly, swinging his silenced submachine gun around and releasing a burst of bullets that chewed through the drywall inches from her head.
"You're not going anywhere, little rat!" the enforcer hissed, stalking down the hallway like a shadow seeking its prey. Emma ducked behind a massive marble pillar as a second stream of gunfire shattered the decorative mirrors hanging along the gallery wall.
Instead of hiding in the panic room as expected, she slid behind a velvet sofa, picking up a heavy brass fireplace poker she had stashed during her first day. As the assassin stepped past her hiding spot, sweeping his weapon toward the empty bedroom doors, Emma struck with calculated fury.
The brass poker crashed squarely against the back of his knee, dropping the armored thug to the floor with a sharp, agonizing groan of pain. She didn't hesitate, following up with a brutal blow to his wrist that sent the submachine gun sliding across the slick wooden floorboards.
Panting heavily, Emma pinned the struggling assassin to the floor with her knee, pressing the heavy metal poker against his throat with lethal intensity. "Who sent you, and what does Salvatore want with me?!" she demanded, her voice carrying an authority that shocked even herself.
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The enforcer coughed up a mixture of blood and spit, laughing weakly beneath her grip while staring up at her with bloodshot eyes. "You think... you think Alejandro is protecting you? He doesn't even know who you really are... you're just his dead wife's twin sister!" the man choked out.
Emma’s breath caught in her throat, her grip loosening slightly as the shocking revelation tore through her mind like a lightning bolt. Before she could process the impossible truth, the front doors burst open, and Alejandro rushed in followed by four heavily armed private guards.
