Seventeen years old, blood drying on my face, and sitting inside a police station, I was asked who they should call to come get me.

Chaos erupted in the foyer.

Rossi cursed, raising his weapon toward the staircase, but Eleanor moved faster than anyone expected. She swung the heavy iron fireplace poker with all her strength, striking Rossi hard across his gun hand. The weapon clattered across the slick marble floor, spinning into the darkness.

"Run, Lucas!" Eleanor shouted, grabbing my arm as I hit the bottom step.

We sprinted down the long service hallway toward the back kitchen entrance. Gunshots echoed behind us as Rossi's thugs recovered, bullets splintering the antique wooden doorframes along the hall.

We burst through the kitchen, out into the pouring rain of the back patio. The icy cold rain hit my face, instantly soaking through my clothes. We sprinted across the slick grass toward the dark structure of the old carriage house at the edge of the property.

The heavy wooden side door of the carriage house swung open, and Marcus reached out, pulling us both inside into the dark, dry space.

"Did you get her?" Leo asked frantically from the shadows.

"I'm here, sweetie," Eleanor breathed, catching her breath, wrapping her arms around Leo and little Toby, who immediately buried his face in her soaked coat.

"We need to get to Eleanor's car," I said, holding up the spare key fob. "It's parked near the side gate."

"The side gate is locked with an electronic keypad," Marcus noted, holding up his phone flashlight. "If the main power is out, the gate won't open."

"There's a manual release lever on the main generator box near the fence," Eleanor said, wiping rainwater from her eyes. "I saw the gardener use it last month. But someone has to pull it from the outside."

Before anyone could answer, heavy footsteps sloshed through the mud outside the carriage house. Through the cracks in the wooden wall, I saw flashlight beams cutting through the storm. Rossi and his remaining three men were fanning out across the grounds.

"They're circling us," Marcus whispered, his hand tightening around a heavy wrench he'd found on a workbench.

Suddenly, a loud screech of tires echoed from the front driveway, followed by the roaring engine of a high-powered vehicle crashing directly through the heavy iron front gates of the estate.

Automatic gunfire erupted near the main entrance.

Through the rain, three silver sedans spun onto the lawn, their high-beam headlights blinding the darkness. Doors slammed open, and a dozen men in dark tactical gear poured out, returning fire with lethal precision.

Leading them was my father.

Julian Cavanaugh stepped into the storm, holding a heavy handgun, his face a terrifying mask of rage. He didn't take cover. He marched across his ruined lawn like an unstoppable force of nature, cutting down Rossi's men before they could even turn to face him.

"DAD!" Leo yelled from the window.

Rossi, realizing his ambush had failed, turned and sprinted toward the side gate, heading directly toward our location in a desperate bid to escape.

"He's coming this way!" I warned, stepping in front of Eleanor and my brothers.

Rossi threw open the carriage house door, looking for a hostage. His eyes locked onto me, and he raised a backup revolver he had pulled from his ankle holster. "You're coming with me, kid!"

"NO!" Eleanor screamed.