Chapter 7 - THE COLLAPSE OF THE NORTH WING
The shockwave hit like a physical wall.
Enzo threw his arms up, shielding his face as shards of reinforced glass rained down from the ceiling like a glittering cascade of shrapnel.
When the dust cleared, a massive plume of black smoke was billowing up from the courtyard gallery.
"Master Enzo!" Ambrose shouted from below, coughing violently through the smoke.
"The north gallery is down! The main exit is blocked by debris!"
Enzo didn't answer. He lunged across the scorched landing, grabbing Adeline by the waist and pulling her behind the thick stone pillar of the library archway just as a burst of automatic gunfire raked the wall where she had been standing.
"Are you insane?" Enzo roared, his face inches from hers, his gray eyes burning with fury and adrenaline.
"Why didn't you stay in the study?"
"Because those men were going to burn this entire house to the ground to get the file in my apron," Adeline fired back, her voice completely steady despite the chaos around them.
"And you were standing right in their crossfire!"
Enzo stared at her, stunned by her defiance.
No one talked to Enzo Marchetti that way. No one ever questioned his commands, let alone yelled at him in the middle of a firefight.
Yet, looking at the fierce, brilliant fire in her eyes, he felt something entirely unfamiliar strike his chest—a sudden, violent surge of protectiveness that terrified him more than the mercenaries.
"Give me the folder," Enzo demanded, holding out his hand.
"No," Adeline said, stepping back slightly.
"Why not?"
"Because if I give it to you, you'll burn it to protect me. And if you burn it, my father's death remains a lie."
Enzo froze.
"Your father?"
"He wasn't a farmer," Adeline said, her voice cracking slightly for the first time.
"He was an accountant at Mercy General Hospital. He discovered that the hospital's trauma wing was being funded by laundering syndicates backed by Senator Vance and your late uncle."
Enzo’s breath caught in his throat.
"They staged his murder four years ago," she continued, tears shimmering in her eyes.
"And I came to this house because I knew the only man in Chicago powerful enough to bring down Senator Vance was the monster who ran the city."
Before Enzo could process the staggering revelation, the shadows at the end of the smoky corridor shifted.
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A surviving mercenary stepped out from the smoke, raising an assault rifle directly at Enzo's unprotected back.
THE END OF CHAPTER 7
