Chapter 8 - The Ambush on Lakeshore Drive
The kiss in the snow had rewritten the terms of our world.
There was no more talk of contracts, no more discussion of six-month arrangements, and no more pretending.
When we returned to the mansion, Vincent moved my belongings into his primary quarters, pulling me into his arms that night not as a convenient shield, but as the woman who possessed his soul.
For the first time in my life, I felt truly desired, cherished, and worshipped in every curve of my body.
He traced the scars on my leg with reverent fingers, whispering that I was the strongest queen Chicago had ever known.
Sunday morning arrived, the eve of the final custody hearing at the Cook County Courthouse.
The girls needed their mandatory medical clearance forms signed by their pediatrician before the judge would finalize the paperwork on Monday morning.
Vincent had insisted on traveling with a three-car armored convoy, his paranoia heightened after Rossi's failed bribe.
"We go directly to the clinic, remain inside the private entrance, and return immediately," Vincent instructed his men as we stepped into the armored Maybach.
Mia and Lily sat between us, dressed in warm winter coats, laughing as Vincent pretended to steal their noses.
The clinic visit went flawlessly; the doctor signed the health certificates, confirming the girls were in peak physical and emotional condition.
We climbed back into the Maybach, our convoy pulling out onto South Lakeshore Drive just as a heavy grey blizzard began to blanket the city in blinding sheets of white.
The traffic was crawling along the frozen expressway.
Suddenly, a deafening blast echoed through the storm.
A massive cement mixer truck smashed through the median divider, ramming straight into our lead escort SUV, sending it spinning across four lanes of traffic in a shower of sparks and metal.
Before our driver could react, a heavy delivery van slammed into the rear of our Maybach, pinning our vehicle against the concrete retaining wall beside Lake Michigan.
"Ambush!" Marco roared from the front passenger seat, drawing his weapon.
Automatic gunfire erupted immediately, bullets ricocheting off the armored glass of our windows with the sound of hail on tin.
"Get down!" Vincent shouted, throwing his massive body over Mia, Lily, and me, shielding us with his own flesh.
"Call tactical reinforcements!" Vincent barked at Marco, pulling a matte-black pistol from beneath his coat.
"They aren't trying to shoot through the armor!" Marco yelled back, checking his side mirror.
"Boss, they have military-grade thermal breaching charges!"
Through the snow-caked front windshield, I saw six masked men in tactical gear approaching with heavy iron sledgehammers and explosive breaching pads designed to tear armored doors off their hinges.
They were targeting the rear passenger side—where the girls and I were huddled.
"Marco, suppress them from the front!" Vincent ordered.
"Evelyn, take the girls into the floorboard cavity!"
Vincent kicked his door open into the oncoming fire, firing with lethal, terrifying precision.
Two of the attackers dropped into the snow instantly, but another team moved around the blind side of the vehicle.
A heavy metal crowbar shattered the partially compromised rear window seal, and a tear gas canister rolled onto the leather seat beside Lily.
Hissing white smoke began to fill the cabin, blinding and suffocating.
Lily began to cough violently, her small hands clawing at her throat.
I couldn't let them breathe the poison.
"Mia, hold your sister's coat over her face!" I screamed through the burning fumes.
I grabbed the hissing canister with my bare hands, the burning metal blistering the skin of my palms, and hurled it out through the broken glass window directly into the face of an advancing attacker.
He screamed, stumbling back into the snowdrifts.
Another masked man lunged through the window opening, grabbing Mia by the collar of her coat.
"I've got the kid!" he shouted into his radio.
Pure, unadulterated motherly rage tore through my veins.
I lunged forward, grabbing the man's wrist, sinking my teeth deep into the exposed flesh between his tactical glove and his sleeve until I tasted copper.
He shrieked in agony, letting go of Mia, and swung his heavy tactical flashlight directly into the side of my face.
The blow struck my temple with a sickening crunch.
Stars exploded behind my eyes, blood pouring down my cheek, but I refused to fall.
I gripped his collar, using the entire momentum of my body weight to drag him half-way through the shattered window frame, pinning his throat against the sharp, jagged glass edges until he went limp.
Outside, the thunderous roar of helicopter blades cut through the blizzard.
Moretti syndicate reinforcements had arrived.
Dozens of armed men spilled onto the expressway from black utility vans, cutting down the remaining ambushers within seconds.
Vincent appeared at the broken door, wrenching it open with his bare hands.
His face was spattered with blood, his eyes wide with a frantic terror I had never seen in him before.
"Evelyn!" he roared, pulling me out into the freezing wind.
I was covered in blood, my forehead split open, my hands burned from the chemical canister, but I held Mia and Lily tightly against my chest.
"They're safe," I whispered through swelling lips, my vision swimming in grey haze.
"The girls... are safe..."
Vincent pulled all three of us into his arms right there on the frozen asphalt of Lakeshore Drive, weeping openly as the sirens wiled in the storm.
"Hold on, my love," he choked out, pressing his forehead against my bloody temple.
May you like
"Stay with me."
Before the darkness claimed me, I felt his tears mixing with the blood on my cheek.
