Chapter 6 - BROKEN GLASS AND TRUTHS
The door began to splinter. Maya didn't wait. She shot through the wood—not at Mrs. Bellamy, but into the floorboard by the threshold, a warning that she wouldn't be taken easily.
"Stop!" she screamed. "I’m not a maid anymore! I’m the one protecting him!"
Outside, the hallway exploded into chaos. Gunfire erupted—not from Mrs. Bellamy, but from the shadows behind her. Marcus’s security team had finally arrived, but they were being cut down by someone with superior training.
Maya grabbed Caleb, pulling him from his bed. "Caleb, listen to me. We have to go. Now."
The boy, wide-eyed and shaking, nodded. He didn't ask questions. He climbed onto Maya’s back as she scrambled toward the service fire escape. They burst out onto the roof just as the door to the bedroom was blown off its hinges.
The cool night air of Boston hit her face, sharp and biting. She looked down at the dark harbor below, then back at the burning house. She could see Marcus on the lower balcony, engaging in a brutal hand-to-hand fight with two men in tactical gear. He was fighting like a man possessed, his strength and ferocity dwarfing his opponents.
"Maya!" Marcus yelled, spotting them on the roof. "The car! The black sedan in the garage! Go!"
As she navigated the fire escape, she saw the woman in silver standing in the courtyard, her phone to her ear. She was calm, watching the destruction of the Blackwood estate with the detached interest of a connoisseur watching a performance. She looked up, and for a fleeting moment, her eyes met Maya's. There was no hatred left in that gaze, only a hollow, terrifying sadness.
Maya reached the garage, her lungs burning. She found the car, shoved Caleb into the backseat, and jumped behind the wheel. The engine roared to life. She didn't know how to drive a luxury vehicle like this, but the mechanics were simple enough. She punched the accelerator, the car surging forward through the heavy steel doors.
As they tore out onto the main road, Caleb gripped the back of her seat. "Where are we going, Maya?"
"To your father's private island," Maya said, remembering the safe house Marcus had mentioned in the security briefings. "It’s the only place they can't track."
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But as she looked in the rearview mirror, she saw the headlights of three SUVs trailing them, bright and relentless. The chase had begun.
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