Chapter 6 - Shield and Flame
The heavy door slid open, revealing Antonio Rossi holding a suppressed pistol, a cruel, triumphant smile plastered across his aged face.
"Well, well," Antonio sneered, stepping into the safe room. "The little maid playing mother to the prince. Move away from the boy, girl, and I might let you live to clean another floor."
Hunter didn't move away. She stood up, shielding Leo with her entire body, backing into the corner of the small room.
"He's your own blood!" Hunter screamed, her eyes flashing with a wild, motherly fury. "He's an innocent baby!"
"He's an obstacle," Antonio spat, raising the gun directly at Hunter's head. "Lorenzo is weak. He let his wife die, and now he spends his nights hiding up here with a peasant. The Rossi family needs real leadership."
Antonio pulled the trigger.
Hunter didn't think. She twisted her body, using her back to cover Leo completely.
BANG!
A deafening shot echoed in the small room, but it didn't come from Antonio’s gun.
Antonio’s eyes widened in shock as a crimson hole burst through the center of his chest. He staggered forward, coughing blood, before collapsing face-first onto the cold steel floor.
Standing in the doorway, covered in soot, gun smoke, and enemy blood, was Lorenzo. His face was a mask of unbridled rage, his gun smoking in his hand.
He dropped the weapon and rushed forward, dropping to his knees beside Hunter.
"Hunter! Leo!" Lorenzo checked them with frantic, trembling hands. "Are you hit? Did he touch you?"
"We're okay... we're okay," Hunter sobbed, sinking into Lorenzo's arms, holding the crying baby between them. "He was going to kill him, Lorenzo... your own uncle..."
Lorenzo wrapped his massive arms around both of them, burying his face in Hunter's hair, his chest heaving with overwhelming emotion. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry I let them reach you. It's over now. I swear to you on my life, it's over."
In that dark, blood-splattered panic room, as the threat was eliminated, Lorenzo pulled back slightly and looked into Hunter's tear-filled eyes. He didn't see a maid. He didn't see an employee under a contract.
He saw the woman who had saved his son’s life twice—the woman who had stepped in front of a bullet for a child that wasn't hers.
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Driven by a raw, inescapable truth, Lorenzo leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
The kiss was fierce, desperate, and filled with a deep, consuming passion. Hunter kissed him back, pouring all her fear, her grief, and her blooming love into him.
