Chapter 5 - The Mask Slips
"Get to the panic room downstairs! Now!" Julian ordered, pulling a heavy tactical pistol from beneath his desk.
"Not without Ellie!" I shrieked.
Julian caught my wrist, pulling me behind him as we raced down the wide hallway toward the nursery. Gunfire echoed from the lower level—sharp, deafening pops followed by shattering glass and shouts.
We reached the nursery just as the heavy wooden door was kicked inward. A masked gunman burst through, raising his rifle directly toward Ellie’s crib.
Without missing a beat, Julian threw his body in front of mine, firing three precise shots. The gunman dropped instantly. Julian didn't pause; he swept Ellie out of her crib with his left arm while shoving me toward the secret wall panel disguised as a bookshelf.
"Inside! Go!" he commanded.
I scrambled into the reinforced concrete panic room. Julian placed Ellie into my arms and reached for the heavy steel door handle from the outside.
"Wait! Aren't you coming in?!" I yelled, grabbing his jacket.
"If I hide in here with you, they'll surround the door and blow the hinges," Julian said, his eyes locking onto mine with an intensity that made my chest tighten. "I have to draw them away."
"Julian, please! You could die!"
A slow, devastating smile touched his lips—the first genuine smile I had ever seen on his face. "Nobody dies in my house, Maya. Especially not the people I care about."
He slammed the panic room door shut. The heavy electronic deadbolts engaged with a sharp thud, sealing Ellie and me inside total silence.
For two agonized hours, I sat on the floor, holding Ellie tight against my chest, rocking back and forth as my tears dripped onto her blanket. The monitors inside the panic room showed dead camera feeds across the second floor. I had no idea if the man who had just risked his life for us was alive or dead.
When the lock finally hissed and the heavy steel door creaked open, I braced myself for the worst.
Julian stood in the doorway. His jacket was gone, his white dress shirt torn and stained with soot and blood, but his eyes were bright. He took one step inside, looked at Ellie, then looked at me.
"It's over," he said quietly, his voice raspy. "The house is secure."
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I dropped all caution. I stood up, rushed forward, and threw my arm around his neck, pulling him close despite the smell of gunpowder clinging to his clothes. Julian froze for a fraction of a second before his arms wrapped tightly around my waist, lifting me off my feet as he buried his face into the crook of my neck.
"You're safe," he murmured into my skin. "I've got you."
