Chapter 6 - The Siege of Lincoln Park"Stay behind me!" Cade barked, his demeanor shifting instantly from vulnerable husband to lethal predator.
He yanked the lower drawer of his desk open, pulling out a heavy, matte-black Sig Sauer pistol, checking the magazine with practiced, lightning-fast efficiency.
"Cade, what's happening?" Nora cried, her heart pounding against her ribs as flashing red emergency lights bathed the hallway in an eerie, pulsing glow.
"Vance didn't wait for a warrant," Cade said grimly, grabbing her arm and pulling her toward the reinforced panic room hidden behind the floor-to-ceiling bookshelf. "He sent armed men to seize the physical servers in my study. They want the encrypted files before the federal grand jury meets tomorrow morning."
"Maya!" Nora screamed, terror tearing through her chest. "Maya is upstairs!"
"Mrs. Gable has her in the secure suite on the third floor. It's locked from the inside," Cade assured her, pushing her toward the heavy steel door of the panic room. "Get inside. Lock it."
"I'm not leaving you!" Nora yelled, planting her feet.
"Nora, listen to me!" Cade grabbed her shoulders, his dark eyes burning into hers with absolute fury and desperation. "If I don't walk out of this room, you use the satellite phone in that safe to call Federal Judge Sterling. He’s the only honest man left in the district. He will protect you and your sister. Do you understand me?"
Before Nora could protest, heavy gunfire echoed from the grand foyer downstairs. Shouts, shattering glass, and the dull thud of tactical boots shook the floorboards.
Cade shoved her gently inside the panic room, swung the heavy steel door shut, and the heavy pneumatic locks engaged with a decisive clack.
Nora slammed her fists against the steel door. "Cade! Cade!"
Outside, the sounds of war erupted. Gunshots cracked through the mansion—rapid, deafening, and relentless. Shouts of men, the splintering of expensive antique furniture, and the terrifying sound of breaking glass filled the air.
Nora turned away from the door, her hands shaking uncontrollably. She rushed to the wall safe inside the panic room, spun the dial, and pulled out the satellite phone. Her fingers were so slick with sweat she nearly dropped it.
She dialed the emergency number Cade had given her.
Ring. Ring. Ring.
"Come on, answer," she sobbed, pacing the small, reinforced concrete room.
"Federal District Judge Sterling's chambers. State your emergency."
"This is Nora Moreno! At the Moreno estate on Lincoln Park! Federal Prosecutor Julian Vance has sent armed men to breach the property—they're shooting up the house! My husband is out there alone!"
"Mrs. Moreno, stay calm. I am dispatching federal marshals to your location immediately. Do not leave that room under any circumstances."
The line clicked dead.
Suddenly, the gunfire outside stopped.
The silence that followed was ten times more terrifying than the noise.
Nora held her breath. Every second stretched into an eternity. She stared at the reinforced steel door, waiting for a knock, a voice, a bullet.
Three minutes passed.
Then, a heavy thud hit the outside of the panic room door.
"Nora."
The voice was low, strained, and breathless.
"Cade?" Nora gasped, flying across the room and slamming her hand against the electronic keypad, punching in the override code.
The heavy steel door swung open.
Cade stumbled into the room, leaning heavily against the doorframe. His right shoulder was soaked in dark, spreading blood from a graze wound, his shirt torn, his knuckles bloodied. In his hand, his pistol was empty and locked back.
"Cade!" Nora cried out, dropping to his side, throwing her arms around his waist to support his weight. "You're bleeding! Oh God, you're bleeding!"
"I'm fine," he grunted through clenched teeth, wincing as she helped him stumble toward the sofa inside the panic room. "The federal marshals are at the gates. Vance’s men are retreating. The physical servers... they're secured."
Nora grabbed a clean towel from the emergency medical kit inside the room, pressing it firmly against his bleeding shoulder. Cade hissed in pain, his dark eyes locking onto hers as she worked with frantic, desperate efficiency.
"You fool," she whispered, tears streaming down her face as she pressed her hands against his chest. "You absolute, reckless fool. You could have been killed."
"I told you," Cade whispered, his voice cracking slightly as he reached up, his bloodstained hand gently cupping her cheek. "You are the only real thing in my life, Nora. I wasn't going to let anyone take that away from me."
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Nora leaned her forehead against his uninjured shoulder, letting the tears fall freely. For the first time since the night in Rosie's Diner, the armor she had worn for years—the armor of a girl who had to be small, who had to survive, who had to carry the world alone—shattered completely.
And in its place was something unbreakable.
