Chapter 4 - THE SILENT ALARM
Rosa backed away slowly, her eyes darting around the study. She knew this room better than anyone except Marcus. She dusted the shelves, polished the brass, and vacuumed the rugs. She knew every inch of it. Including the things she wasn't supposed to know.
Like the panic button.
Three months ago, while cleaning under the lip of Marcus's heavy oak desk, her cloth had snagged on a small, recessed button. Marcus had walked in, calmly asked her to never touch it, and explained that it was a silent alarm wired directly to the local police precinct and his private security firm.
The man with the knife kept advancing, swinging the blade in lazy, menacing arcs. "Put the kid down, lady. It'll be quicker for her."
"Don't you touch her," Rosa growled, a feral sound she didn't know she was capable of making. She kept stepping back, guiding her movements by memory, angling herself toward the desk.
On the other side of the room, Marcus landed a brutal right hook across Cole’s jaw. Blood sprayed across the expensive rug. But the large man who had been hit with the vase was recovering. He shook his bleeding head, his eyes fixing on Marcus's back. He raised a massive fist, preparing to strike Marcus from behind.
Rosa reached the desk. With one arm tightly securing Lily, who was now crying softly into her neck, Rosa blindly felt along the underside of the thick wood. Where is it? Where is it?
Her fingers brushed cold metal. Then, the plastic rim of the recess.
The man with the knife lunged.
Rosa slammed her palm upward against the button, feeling it click. In the same motion, she threw herself to the side. The knife sliced through the air, tearing through the fabric of her uniform sleeve, leaving a burning trail of pain across her bicep.
"Bitch!" the man yelled, losing his balance and crashing into the desk chair.
"Rosa, get out!" Marcus roared, spinning around just in time to block a devastating punch from the large man.
"I pressed it!" Rosa screamed back, clutching her bleeding arm but holding Lily tighter. "The button under the desk! I pressed it!"
The words acted like a bucket of ice water on the intruders. Cole, spitting blood on the floor, stared at Marcus in horror. "A silent alarm? You have a silent alarm?"
"Response time is exactly four minutes," Marcus said, panting, wiping a streak of sweat from his forehead. He backed away from the large man, positioning himself between the attackers and Rosa. "The local precinct is down the road. My private security is already rolling. You have maybe three minutes left to get off my property before this estate is surrounded by men with assault rifles."
Victoria’s face went completely pale. The arrogant smirk vanished, replaced by sheer panic. "Cole... Cole, we have to go. If the police get here..."
Cole’s eyes darted frantically around the room. The plan had completely unraveled. It was supposed to be a quiet intimidation. A forced signature. Now, there was a bleeding maid, a crying toddler, a billionaire fighting back, and the police on the way.
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"We're not leaving without the signatures," Cole snarled, pulling a second, smaller pistol from his ankle holster. He pointed it directly at Lily. "Three minutes is a lifetime, Whitmore. Log in to the terminal. Now. Or the kid dies first."
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