Chapter 20 - The Edge of Darkness"Get Noah," Alexander ordered, his voice dropping into a deadly whisper as he pulled a secondary tactical flashlight and his handgun from the hidden safe under the bookshelf. "Go down to the storm cellar under the kitchen pantry. Lock the iron bar from the inside."
"I'm not leaving you, Alexander!" I whispered back fiercely in the dark.
"Emma, listen to me!" Alexander grabbed my face in both hands, forcing me to look directly into his burning eyes in the dim moonlight reflecting off the snow. "They have three men out there. Marcus Caldwell is a lunatic who has nothing left to lose. I am going to draw them away from the house. You take Noah and Claire into the cellar. If I don't come back down in twenty minutes, you take the tunnel exit out to the beach road!"
"Alexander, no—"
"I love you, Emma," Alexander interrupted, his voice breaking with a sudden, overwhelming tenderness. He pressed his lips hard against mine—a desperate, violent kiss that tasted of salt, fear, and absolute devotion. "I spent five years living in the dark. You brought me back to life. Now let me protect our family."
He broke the kiss, grabbed the iron fire poker and his weapon, and slipped out through the back kitchen door into the freezing blizzard, closing it soundlessly behind him.
I didn't waste a second. I ran upstairs in the dark, picking up a terrified Noah into my arms.
"Mommy, what's happening?" Noah whimpered, burying his face into my neck.
"It's a game, sweetie," I lied, my voice shaking as I carried him down the stairs. "We're playing hide and seek in the dark cellar. You have to be super quiet, okay? Like a quiet little mouse."
I dragged Claire, who was barely conscious, through the kitchen and down the narrow wooden stairs into the underground storm cellar. I locked the heavy iron reinforcement bar across the oak door, plunging us into total, claustrophobic darkness.
Outside, above our heads, the heavy glass doors of the living room shattered into a million pieces.
CRASH!
Heavy tactical boots stomped across the hardwood floors right above where we hid.
"STERLING!" a cold, unhinged male voice roared through the empty house. "I know you're here, Alexander! Hand over the boy and the files, or I'll burn this wooden box to the ground with your dead maid inside!"
Down in the dark cellar, Noah clamped his hands over his ears, trembling uncontrollably against my chest. I held him so tight I could feel his frantic heartbeat merging with mine.
Then, from the driveway outside, a deafening shot rang out.
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BANG!
A heavy body slammed against the wall right above our heads, followed by the sound of Alexander’s voice roaring in pure, unbridled fury.
