Chapter 136: Backup
Carmen
We had barely stepped outside before I realized just how bad things really were.
The front entrance of the mansion was chaos.
Guards moved rapidly across the driveway, weapons drawn and shouting over each other while sleek black vehicles waited with engines running.
Martins immediately took control of the situation the second we emerged from the mansion doors.
His expression remained blank, almost disturbingly calm despite the gunfire echoing in the distance. He looked like a man who had already accepted death a long time ago and therefore no longer feared it.
"Get them in the cars!" he barked at the guards.
"Move!"
"Cover the north side!"
"Drivers stay ready!"
Orders rolled out of him sharply and efficiently while the guards scrambled to obey. Even in the middle of chaos, Martins looked impossible to shake.
Massive and muscular, dark suit perfectly fitted against his broad frame, buzz cut untouched despite the madness around us.
It was hard to not see him in a different light considering he was no longer in the background.
Vanessa on the other hand clung to my arm so tightly it almost hurt.
"We’re getting out, right?" she asked, voice trembling violently. "Tell me we’re leaving."
"We are," I answered immediately
Martins gestured toward one of the armored black cars parked closest to the entrance. "That one," he ordered.
We started moving toward it quickly.
I could hear bullets in the distance. Could smell smoke lingering in the air already. Somewhere near the gates men were still screaming over gunfire, but it sounded farther away now.
Too far away.
Something about that bothered me instantly.
Then I heard it.
Cars.
Fast.
Approaching.
My head snapped toward the sound just as headlights burst through the darkness beyond the driveway.
Armored vehicles.
Several of them.
Damaged but still moving aggressively toward us.
"Duck!" Martins roared.
Gunfire exploded around us instantly.
The bullets tore through the air so suddenly and violently that my ears rang.
Glass shattered somewhere beside us while guards dropped almost immediately, bodies collapsing onto the concrete before they even had time to react.
I threw myself downward hard enough for pain to shoot through my knees.
Vanessa screamed.
A bullet flew past her head so close that strands of her dark hair lifted with the force of it. She collapsed straight onto the ground, frozen there in terror.
"Oh my God—oh my God—" the panic coated her tone
"Move!" Martins shouted again while firing toward the incoming vehicles. "Get back inside!"
The realization hit me instantly and brutally.
They had reached the mansion.
Which meant the guards at the gate were dead.
Every single one of them.
My stomach twisted violently as bullets sprayed across the entrance. The attackers weren’t trying to scare us. They weren’t aiming to negotiate.
They intended to kill every person inside the estate.
Nothing more.
Vanessa still hadn’t moved.
She was kneeling on the ground shaking uncontrollably, hands over her head as gunfire erupted around us.
"I can’t—" she cried breathlessly. "I can’t!"
"Vanessa!" I snapped.
Another burst of bullets hit the side of the car beside us, metal denting loudly.
Martins stepped directly in front of us while firing back, shielding us with his body without hesitation.
"Get her inside!" he shouted.
I cursed under my breath and grabbed Vanessa harshly by the arm.
"Get up!"
She tried, stumbled, then nearly collapsed again.
For a second I genuinely considered leaving her there because dragging dead weight through gunfire was practically suicide.
But I couldn’t.
I tightened my grip and hauled her upward again. "Move!"
She was crying openly now as I dragged her toward the mansion entrance while Martins continued firing behind us.
Bullets slammed into the pillars near the doorway.
One of the guards fell face-first onto the steps.
Another explosion sounded somewhere near the front gates.
The smell of smoke and gunpowder thickened around us.
We barely made it inside.
The second we crossed through the doors, Martins shoved them closed violently behind us before staggering slightly.
That caught my attention immediately.
Blood.
A dark red patch was spreading across the shoulder of his white shirt beneath his jacket.
"You got shot," I said sharply.
"It’s nothing."
It clearly wasn’t nothing.
Martins ripped off his jacket anyway, jaw tightening only slightly as he exposed the wound. Blood soaked through the fabric quickly while he grabbed part of the discarded jacket and tied it roughly around his shoulder.
Vanessa slid down near the staircase, crying uncontrollably.
"We’re going to die," she whispered.
I ignored her for a second because my own thoughts had become significantly worse.
The men outside were many but our men were many too. There would be casualties but we would be fine.
And suddenly all I could think about was Nico.
He had gone to meet the head of the Gallias cartel.
And if things here were this bad...The thought hit harder than I expected.
He had fewer men with him.Less protection.
For the first time, I genuinely wondered if Nico would survive.
"Fuck," I muttered under my breath.
Martins continued tightening the makeshift bandage around his shoulder while Vanessa fumbled desperately for her phone.
"We’ll die here!" she cried. "We need to call the police!"
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped the phone while wiping tears from her face.
I didn’t stop her.
At this point, the fact that the attackers had broken through the gates and reached the mansion itself meant our defenses had already collapsed.
Too many of our men were dead.
"Police!" Vanessa shouted into the phone once the call connected. "I’m calling from Nico Romano’s mansion! It’s under attack!"
Martins immediately motioned for us to move farther from the entrance.
Outside, gunfire intensified again.
The sound blasted against the walls loudly enough to shake the windows. Somewhere nearby, glass shattered completely.
"The mansion is under attack!" Vanessa screamed again into the phone as she crouched lower beside the staircase, tears sliding down her face nonstop.
I understood her fear.
She didn’t want to die here.
Vanessa wanted to live. Wanted to see her mother again knowing she was the only family she had left.
"I need a gun," I said suddenly, stepping closer to Martins.
Pain flashed briefly across his face before disappearing again.
"A gun in your hand isn’t going to change the fact that we’re fucked," he answered impatiently.
He moved toward one of the broken windows carefully and peeked outside.
His expression darkened immediately. Most of our men were dead already. I could see it too from where I stood. Bodies scattered across the driveway.
But the intruders had taken losses too. Several bodies dressed in black lay motionless near the vehicles outside. The smell of blood and gunpowder drifted heavily through the broken glass.
"It would make me feel better regardless," I replied coldly.
Martins ignored me completely. His face suddenly tightened in surprise.
I frowned and looked farther through the shattered window just in time to see what he saw.
More vehicles. Armored. Pulling into the estate one after another. And deep down, I already knew the truth before anyone spoke.
That wasn’t backup for us. It was backup for them.
"We need to hide," Martins said immediately, stepping away from the window.
For the first time since the attack started, urgency finally appeared in his voice. He looked around quickly, and I could see the thoughts running through his mind.
But nowhere in the mansion was truly secure.
Because eventually they would surround the house. Then they would enter and once they entered, every room would become a coffin.
Except...
One place.
My heart pounded harder at the thought.
The only real safe place in the entire estate.But there was one horrifying problem. I didn’t know the password.
As fast as I could I dug into my pocket and began dislling nico’s number hoping that for both our sakes he was still alive.
