Chapter 4 - Playing God
With the press of a button, Lorenzo triggered the estate's lockdown protocol.
On the monitors, thick steel shutters slammed down over every window and exterior door in the mansion. The heavy thud reverberated through the foundation. The lights in the main house flickered and died, replaced by the eerie, blood-red glow of emergency backup lighting.
"What did you just do?" Sofia asked, watching the men on the screens panic as the darkness consumed the house.
"I sealed the exits," Lorenzo said, his eyes hard and merciless. "No one gets out. Not until I say so."
He switched the audio feed to the grand foyer. Two of Julian's men were banging aggressively on the steel shutters covering the front doors, trying to pry them open.
"We're locked in, boss!" one of them yelled into his radio. "The whole house went into a vault mode!"
In the master bedroom, Julian looked terrified. The arrogance of the usurper was rapidly fading into the sheer panic of a trapped rat. He dialed his satellite phone again. Lorenzo hacked the frequency, listening in on the room's speakers.
"Isabella, where are you?" Julian demanded.
"I'm ten minutes away," Isabella's voice filled the subterranean room. Lorenzo closed his eyes. Hearing her voice—so calm, so complicit in his planned murder—felt like swallowing razor blades. "Is it done, Julian? Is Lorenzo dead?"
"We have a situation," Julian gritted his teeth. "He was here. He vanished into some kind of hidden bunker. The house is on lockdown."
"What do you mean, a bunker?" Isabella hissed, her elegant facade cracking. "Find him! If he survives the night, we are both dead! He will peel the skin from our bones, Julian!"
"I'm handling it!" Julian yelled, hanging up.
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Lorenzo opened his eyes. The pain was gone. The shock had evaporated. All that was left was cold, calculating fury. He turned to the wall of weapons and pulled down a customized matte-black tactical shotgun.
"She's arriving in ten minutes," Lorenzo said, tossing a box of incendiary shells to Sofia. "Let's clear out the trash before my wife gets home."
