Chapter 4 - The Raid on Ashford EstateAt 3:00 AM, six black armored sedans pulled out from the gates of the Ferrara estate, moving swiftly through the rain-swept streets toward the affluent suburb of Alpine, New Jersey.
Inside the lead vehicle sat Nico, wearing a tactical bulletproof vest over a black shirt. Sitting beside him, wearing a comfortable dark coat, holding an encrypted satellite tablet, was me.
I had refused to stay behind. I had lived in fear of Edmund Ashford for twelve years, hiding in dark rooms while he controlled my life. Tonight, I was going back to his house—not as his victim, but as Donna Nora Ferrara.
Leo sat in the front passenger seat, reviewing the estate blueprints on his tablet.
"Perimeter cameras have been looped, Boss," Leo reported cleanly. "Edmund has five guards posted on the main floor and two outside his private library."
"Minimize casualties," Nico ordered smoothly. "We are here for the floor safe and Edmund's master ledgers."
Ten minutes later, the armored sedans glided quietly up the long stone driveway of the Ashford mansion.
Before the gate guards could react, Nico’s operators moved with surgical, terrifying precision. Suppressed rounds cut through the night air, disabling the gate security terminals.
The heavy double doors of the mansion were breached within forty-five seconds.
I walked through the grand entrance of my childhood home beside Nico, flanked by four armed operators. The house smelled of expensive cedar, cognac, and stale fear.
Standing near the grand staircase, his hands bound tightly behind his back by two of Nico’s men, was my father.
Edmund looked up as I walked through the foyer. When his bloodshot eyes saw me standing beside Nico Ferrara—wearing an unbuttoned dark coat, holding my head high, my posture tall and sovereign—he let out a loud, pathetic shriek of pure, unadulterated terror.
"Nora!" Edmund whimpered, his knees buckling as he hit the marble floor. "Nora, please! Tell your husband to stop this! I'm your father! I gave you everything! I paid for your clothes! I gave you this house!"
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I didn't answer him. I walked straight past his groveling frame, stopping at the double oak doors of his private library.
Nico kicked the doors open with a thunderous CRACK.
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