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“No,” Lilly said in a quieter voice as her grip tightened on my arm. If we had time, I would have asked for an explanation for the sudden tenderness in her expression.
I left a hard, quick kiss on her forehead. “Don’t make this hard on me, Princess. I’ll be back.”
She pulled on the edge of my shirt. “Promise?”
I hadn’t made her any guarantees about anything else, but this was a promise I didn’t hesitate to make. “I’ll be back. I promise.”
“Go,” Dante said, as he joined us by the door. “I’ll take care of them.”
I didn’t stay to watch the door close behind me.
The sound proofing ended partway up the stairs. I reached the top to hear the barrage of gunfire continuing outside. I may have had a fence around the perimeter, but there was nothing anyone could do about an aerial attack. Fortunately, the men in the base house outside the perimeter detected the helicopters before their arrival.
But had it been soon enough?
When Dante Calegari had arrived uninvited that morning, I didn’t raise the alarm. I didn’t want to scare Lilly and turn my home into a war zone. He’d already detained the men onsite, which wasn’t surprising given my tactics the night I took Lilly. Dante used a page out of my playbook, but it wasn’t like I invented anything. He’d actually done me a favor. Apparently, my security wasn’t Calegari proof, if that Calegari was one of the world’s stealthiest assassins.
Fortunately, Dante had either been unaware of, or had ignored, the men stationed at the base house on the outside of the perimeter of my property. Because of that, we were alive. Even if whoever was behind this attack hadn’t wanted anyone killed, if their goal was to send a message, there still could have been death or catastrophic injuries if any of us, or all of us, had been standing in front of those windows when they were shot out. Even ballistic glass can only take so much, and once the windows were compromised, the repeated barrage of gunfire from a military grade weapon would sail right through.
By the time we had our debriefing later that morning, I’d know what ammunition was used, what weapon it was fired from, and the types of helicopters that had brought it to my doorstep. Once I knew that, I would know which son-of-a-bitch had access to such weaponry and which of those bastards would dare to use it against me, one of the few men in the world who could sell them that kind of shit.
It took a lot of nerve to use my own weapons against me. In a few hours, I’d know if that was really the case.
I met Denny at the door when I reached the back yard where the choppers had done the most damage. The helicopters had completed their fly-by and were no longer within sight. From the pool house to the back patio, everything was a fucking mess. Vases were shattered, furniture was destroyed, and debris was everywhere.
Reaching me, Denny pointed out the obvious. “They’re leaving.”
“Anyone hurt?”
“Still checking. They didn’t appear to be targeting anyone, though. Just shooting the place up.”
“Any clues to who they were?”
“Sorry. I was too busy ducking and returning fire to notice. Calegari? Is that why he stuffed us all in the garage?”
I understood why Denny would think Dante would be behind this. My guess would have been Gabriel, but this attack didn’t fit his style and he wasn’t that careless.
“He wouldn’t risk it. Neither would the other one. Almost their entire fucking family is here right now. Get me a triage report and any footage that’s available. If anyone’s injured, I want to know five minutes ago. We’ll meet in two hours to debrief.”
“Yes, sir.”
I sucked in a breath, barely keeping it together. I’m not foolish enough to think that any location is impregnable, but my home had been invaded twice in the same morning by two different people and I only knew the identity of one of them. Stepping over broken glass and mangled furniture, I returned to the safe room. Dante held Noemi in his arms. Fabian was still conducting surveillance on the property. Now that the gunfire had ended, they all appeared more relaxed than when I had left them.
Except Lilly. “Are you alright?” She immediately ran to my side as I stepped inside the door.
My arms went around her. Easy. Effortless.
“I’m fine, Princess,” I murmured to the top of her head.
“Is anyone hurt?” Dante asked, his arm still around Noemi.
“Not that I know of yet. They’ll let me know if anyone is.”
Lilly shook in my arms, and I tightened my hold. “It’s okay, Lilly. I’m fine.”
“I’m not,” she whispered to my shirt.
There was a bed in the corner of the room because you never know how long you’re going to be trapped inside a safe room. I led her to it.
