The video on the small, scratched smartphone screen played in silent, horrifying clarity.

The feed on my desktop monitor flickered, shifting from the peaceful garden view to a thermal heat map of the estate's northern boundary.

Six blacked-out armored SUVs had cut through the iron perimeter gates, pouring onto the main lawn. Over twenty heavily armed men in unmarked tactical gear were fanning out across the courtyard, carrying silenced automatic rifles and breaching charges.

"Arthur’s private strike team," Vance said calmly, racking the bolt of his assault rifle. "He’s burning the whole evidence pile tonight."

"Vance," I said, standing up and opening the bottom drawer of my desk to pull out my personal sidearm. "My daughter is in the east wing. If a single bullet travels toward that room, I will skin Arthur Sterling alive."

"The east wing is reinforced with triple-pane ballistic glass and kevlar shutters, sir," Vance assured me. "My men are already in defensive positions in the foyer. We hold the choke points."

"No," I said, looking at the security feed. "We don't defend. We hunt."

The lights across the ten-thousand-square-foot mansion flickered and died as Vance cut the main power grid, plunging the estate into pitch blackness. Instantaneously, emergency night-vision HUDs booted up on my tactical glasses.

Below us, the heavy front doors of the manor shattered inward under a breaching charge.

The sound of automatic gunfire erupted through the grand foyer. Glass exploded from the chandeliers, marble splinters flew through the air, and heavy boots thundered across the floorboards.

I moved down the secondary service hallway—the very corridors Lily had been forced to scrub—holding my weapon steady.

Two of Arthur’s mercenaries breached the side entrance near the dining room. Through my night-vision gear, their body heat glowed bright green against the cold stone. I stepped around the frame of the mahogany door, firing three precise shots. Both men crumpled to the floor before they could raise their weapons.

"Sector two clear," I spoke into my comms earpiece. "Vance, status on the east wing?"

"They're trying to breach the nursery corridor!" Vance’s voice came through amid the deafening roar of gunfire. "We're pushed back to the main library!"

My blood went cold. "I'm coming."

I sprinted down the long, carpeted gallery, stepping over falling debris and shattered artwork. At the end of the hall, near the reinforced doors of the guest suite, three mercenaries were placing C4 breaching charges against the frame.

"Hey!" I roared through the darkness.

All three men spun toward me. I didn't wait. I engaged, firing continuously as I advanced down the hall. The first mercenary dropped instantly; the second returned fire, a bullet grazing my right shoulder, burning like a hot iron, but the adrenaline drowned out the pain. I closed the distance, drove my forearm into his neck, threw him against the wall, and fired a point-blank shot into his chest plate before turning to face the third.

The third man backed up, raising his rifle, but a heavy shadow dropped from the ceiling air duct behind him. Vance wrapped an arm around his neck, twisting violently with a loud, sickening crack.

The hallway fell dead silent, saved for the heavy panting of my lungs and the faint smell of gunpowder lingering in the air.

I turned to the guest room door. The steel reinforced frame held strong.

I pressed my palm to the biometric scanner beside the handle. The light turned green, and the heavy door slid open.

Inside, sitting in the center of the giant four-poster bed, was Lily. She was holding her knees to her chest, her small body trembling violently, but she didn't scream. She looked at me through the dark, her tear-filled eyes reflecting the dim red emergency light.

"Daddy?" she whispered.

I tossed my weapon to Vance, stepped across the room, and fell to my knees beside the bed, wrapping my arms around her frail body.

"I promised you," I breathed into her hair, holding her so tight I could feel her rapid heartbeat against my ribs. "I promised you nobody would touch you."