Chapter 28 - THE MAID WHO BECAME A WARRIOR
The penthouse of Vance Tower was an expansive glass cathedral perched eight hundred feet above Manhattan. The double-height living room featured a sweeping spiral staircase leading directly to the rooftop helipad, where the twin rotors of an AgustaWestland helicopter were already spooling up, their rhythmic thrum vibrating through the floorboards.
Inside the penthouse, Kane stood near the floor-to-ceiling glass wall, holding Lily by the shoulder. The little girl had tears streaming down her pale cheeks, but she was biting her lower lip, refusing to scream. In her small hands, she still held onto her battered teddy bear.
Across the room stood Victoria Vance, clutching a crocodile-skin Hermès bag, her hair whipping wildly in the draft from the open terrace doors.
"Where is he?" Victoria spat nervously, glancing at her diamond wristwatch. "The federal warrants have been broadcast across every news network! The FAA is grounding private flights! We need to take off now!"
"He has three minutes," Kane replied coldly, his assault rifle hanging across his chest. "Ethan Vance won't let his daughter die. He will come."
Suddenly, the private elevator chime sounded.
The brushed-steel elevator doors slid open.
Standing inside was Ethan Vance. He was dressed in a black tactical sweater, his hands held high, empty. Under his left arm, he carried the manila folder tied with red string.
"Daddy!" Lily cried out, trying to lunge forward, but Kane’s massive hand clamped down on her shoulder like an iron vise.
"Stay still, little girl," Kane warned, raising his sidearm and aiming it directly at Ethan’s forehead. "Kick the folder across the floor, Vance."
Ethan looked past Kane, his eyes locking onto his daughter. "Are you hurt, Lily?"
"No, Daddy," Lily sobbed, her voice trembling. "I was brave. Just like you told me."
"You did good, sweetheart," Ethan said softly. Then his eyes drifted to Victoria. "Here is your paperwork, Victoria. Julian’s handwritten confession. Take it and let the girl go."
Victoria rushed forward, snatching the folder from the floor. She ripped open the string, frantically scanning the pages. A manic, triumphant grin spread across her face. "Finally... finally, the empire is mine!"
"Now release my daughter," Ethan commanded.
Kane sneered. "You really are naive, Vance. Victoria’s orders were explicit: no witnesses."
Kane tightened his finger on the trigger.
*CRASH!*
The massive glass skylight directly above the penthouse living room shattered into ten thousand glittering shards!
A figure in black tactical gear swung through the opening on a high-tensile rappelling line, landing with feline grace upon the grand piano!
It was Vanessa!
Before Kane could swing his weapon upward, Vanessa raised her suppressed HK416 and fired a three-round burst into the mercenary standing beside the terrace door.
*Thwip-thwip-thwip!*
The mercenary collapsed backward onto the terrace.
"Lily, drop!" Vanessa screamed.
Lily instantly threw herself flat beneath the heavy mahogany dining table.
The penthouse erupted into absolute pandemonium. Kane swung his weapon toward Vanessa, but Ethan closed the distance in a blinding burst of speed. Ethan slammed his entire body into Kane, driving the massive mercenary over the glass coffee table, shattering it into jagged fragments!
Victoria screamed, dropping the folder as shards of glass rained down around her. She turned and scrambled desperately up the spiral staircase toward the rooftop helipad.
Vanessa hit the floor rolling, discarded her empty rifle, and drew the Sig Sauer from her waistband. Another mercenary lunged at her from the hallway, brandishing a tactical knife. Vanessa ducked under his slash, drove her elbow into his ribs, and fired twice into his chest, neutralizing the threat with cold, calculated precision.
She wasn't a maid anymore. She was a mother tearing through hell to reach her child.
She dived beneath the dining table, wrapping both arms around Lily, pulling the weeping child tightly against her Kevlar vest. "Mommy’s here! Mommy’s got you, baby!"
Meanwhile, across the shattered living room, Ethan and Kane were locked in a brutal life-or-death struggle. Kane slammed a heavy fist into Ethan’s jaw, knocking him back against the concrete pillar. Kane drew a combat knife, lunging forward with a lethal upward thrust aimed at Ethan’s throat.
Ethan caught Kane’s wrist with both hands, twisting the joint with every ounce of strength he possessed. The knife clattered to the floor. Ethan drove his knee into Kane’s abdomen, followed by a vicious spinning elbow to the side of the mercenary’s skull.
Kane stumbled, dazed, toward the shattered floor-to-ceiling window.
Ethan didn't give him room to breathe. He grabbed Kane by the tactical harness, leveraged his weight, and hurled the two-hundred-and-twenty-pound killer through the broken opening.
Kane vanished into the gray morning fog, plummeting eight hundred feet to the empty pavement below without a sound.
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Ethan stood panting, blood dripping from his split lip, turning his gaze toward the spiral staircase.
"Stay with Lily," Ethan told Vanessa, his voice hoarse. "I’m finishing this."
