Chapter 6 - The Glass Falls
The sound of shattering plate glass exploded from the back gallery terrace.
“Down!” the Vale operative roared, drawing his weapon from beneath his jacket and shoving Sophia behind the heavy mahogany reception desk.
Panic tore through the gallery. Patrons screamed, dropping their champagne flutes, scrambling for the front double doors as the fire alarm began its piercing, rhythmic screech.
Sophia crouched on the marble floor, her arms wrapped instinctively over her belly, her breath hitching in her bruised throat. *Not the baby. Please, God, not the baby.*
Through the chaos, Caleb burst through the front entrance, a heavy semi-automatic drawn, his eyes scanning the gallery with terrifying efficiency.
“Sophia!” he bellowed over the sirens.
“I’m here!” she shouted back.
Two men in black tactical gear burst through the shattered terrace doors, their faces concealed behind ballistic masks. They weren't looking to kill—they were carrying zip-ties and stun batons. A snatch-and-grab operation in broad daylight.
The first operative took aim, but Caleb fired twice through the center of the gallery. The two hollow-point rounds shattered the display pedestal between them and struck the lead intruder in the chest plate, dropping him to the floor with a violent thud.
The second intruder realized the extraction was compromised, threw a smoke canister that hissed thick, gray sulfur into the corridor, and vaulted back over the fifth-floor balcony toward the fire escape.
“Move, move!” Caleb yelled, sliding behind the desk and hauling Sophia to her feet by her elbow, his body forming an impenetrable barrier between her and the smoke. “We are leaving right now!”
Within ninety seconds, they were inside the armored Lincoln, tires burning rubber as Caleb threw the heavy sedan into reverse and tore out of the alleyway onto Michigan Avenue.
Sophia was shaking violently, clutching the silver box with the red carnation in her lap. Her fingernails dug into the velvet until her fingers ached.
“Caleb,” she whispered, tears cutting through the dust on her cheeks. “He knows.”
Caleb glanced at the rearview mirror, his face carved from dark granite. He hit the hands-free dial on the steering wheel.
Dominic answered on the first ring. “Sophia?”
Hearing his voice cracked the dam inside her.
“Dominic,” she sobbed. “They came to the gallery. Cross sent a note. He knows I’m pregnant. Dominic, he knows about the baby!”
A silence fell over the line—a silence so deep, so absolute, that even through the cellular connection, Sophia felt the terrifying drop in atmospheric pressure.
When Dominic spoke, his voice was not angry. It was a terrifying, quiet whisper that signaled the end of mercy.
“Are you hurt?”
“No,” she choked out. “Caleb got me out. The baby… I don’t feel pain. I’m just scared.”
“Listen to me, Sophia,” Dominic said, every syllable deliberate and cold as a winter tomb. “Caleb is taking you directly to the estate in Lake Forest. The perimeter is locked down with forty men. Dr. Vance is already en route to monitor the heartbeat. You will stay there.”
“What are you going to do?” she pleaded. “Dominic, don't do something that will put you in prison. If you leave me alone—”
“I am not leaving you, Sophia,” Dominic cut her off, his tone uncompromising. “I am removing the threat. Liam Prescott made his last mistake when he accepted Julian Cross’s money. Stay with Caleb. I will be home before midnight.”
The line clicked dead.
Sophia stared at the phone, cold dread pooling in her gut. She turned to Caleb. “Where is he going?”
May you like
Caleb didn’t look back. “To do what the boss does best, ma'am. Reminding this city who owns it.”
***