Part 17
The heavy iron bar struck the assassin directly across the side of his tactical helmet.
The impact was loud, a metallic crack that reverberated through the small room.
The man groaned, his weapon firing a random burst into the concrete floor as he stumbled forward, disoriented but not completely incapacitated.
He was twice her size, his muscles hardened by years of violence.
He turned violently, his hand flashing out to grab Emma by the throat, pinning her against the reinforced wall.
Emma choked, her grip on the crowbar slipping as the air was cut off from her lungs.
"Little bitch," the Russian hissed, his face twisted in rage beneath his visor.
He raised his weapon, aiming it directly at her chest.
From behind the wooden crate, Leo let out a sharp, terrified scream.
The assassin’s eyes flickered toward the sound. "The prize," he murmured.
Before he could pull the trigger, a thunderous explosion echoed from the command room outside.
The assassin’s head suddenly exploded in a shower of dark mist as a high-velocity round tore through the open vault door, striking him dead center.
His grip vanished, and his heavy body collapsed to the floor like a sack of stones.
Emma fell to her knees, gasping for air, coughing violently as she looked up through the smoke.
Standing in the doorway of the vault, silhouetted by the white light of tactical flares, was Adrian Romano.
He looked like a phantom risen from the grave.
His suit was torn, covered in ash and blood, and he held a massive, smoking assault rifle in his hands. His eyes were wild, filled with a terrifying, unhinged fury.
He scanned the room until his gaze locked onto Emma.
He dropped the rifle and sprinted into the vault, falling to his knees beside her.
He didn't check for the baby first.
He grabbed Emma by the shoulders, his hands trembling violently. "Are you hit? Emma, look at me. Are you hit?"
"I'm... I'm okay," she gasped, clutching her throat. "Leo... Leo is behind the crate."
Adrian turned and pulled the wooden box aside. He lifted his son into his arms, checking his body with frantic, desperate speed.
The baby was uninjured, only crying from the deafening noise.
Adrian pulled both Emma and Leo into his chest, his massive arms wrapping around them in a tight, suffocating embrace.
For a man who ruled through fear and isolation, the gesture was raw, desperate, and completely human.
"I thought I was too late," Adrian whispered against Emma’s hair, his voice thick with an emotion he couldn't control. "I thought they had taken you."
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Emma pressed her face into his blood-stained shoulder, the terror finally breaking her down into tears.
They were surrounded by death, inside a ruined fortress, but in the arms of the city's most feared monster, she felt an impossible, terrifying sense of safety.
