Page 227 of Diego

I pull in behind him, kill the engine, and get out before the car has fully settled.

Gunfire cracks somewhere beyond the stone wall.

Every muscle in my body locks for half a second before I start toward Mario. He is standing beside his car with a weapon already in his hand. His suit jacket is off, and his sleeves are rolled up, but there is nothing polished about him now.

Victoria and Leonardo are inside, and the look on his face tells me someone is going to pay.

“What do you know?” he asks, all business.

“Nothing since Blair called me back. The line died almost immediately.” I look toward the wall as another short burst comes from the direction of the front drive. “They traced whatever she found in those Meridian files back to this address. The house we hit was nearly empty because they’d already moved out. I think they were headed here before we ever reached them.”

Mario’s jaw tightens. “External communication?”

“Gone. I lost everything before I reached the property.”

“That matches what I’m getting.”

Headlights appear briefly down the access lane and disappear again as Ricardo turns in behind my car. Giovanni is with him. The next two vehicles arrive within seconds, bringing Antonio, Nico, Dante, Matteo, and Tomasso along with more of our people.

Nobody needs to be told to kill the lights or stay off the road. Doors open, weapons come out, and everyone moves toward us beneath the trees.

Ricardo reaches Mario first. “Anything?”

Mario shakes his head. “Nothing from anyone inside.”

Dante hears that as he joins us. His expression hardens, but he says nothing. Matteo and Tomasso look toward the house beyond the wall, both of them carrying the same tension Mario is barely containing.

Victoria and their little brother are in there. Ricardo’s wife and daughter are in there. Blair and my unborn child are in there. Emilia is in there too, and until we get eyes on the house, we do not know how far whoever attacked the property has managed to get.

Another vehicle turns into the lane.

I recognize Edoardo behind the wheel before he parks. Alessio is out almost as soon as the doors unlock, and both of them come toward us carrying weapons.

I look at Mario. “You called them?”

“Yes.” He waits until they reach us before continuing. “Lorenzo still doesn’t have any news. Donna is still in labor, and he’s staying with her.”

Edoardo nods. “We told him you needed a little help with something and that we’d be back as soon as we could.”

“He wasn’t thrilled about it,” Alessio adds, “but he’s not leaving Donna.”

“Good,” Mario says. “He stays where he is. Nobody calls him unless this gets to the point where he has to know.”

There is no disagreement. If Lorenzo knew what was happening, he would be torn. There's no use putting him through that when the place he needs to be is next to his wife.

Mario turns to me. “Layout.”

I step closer and point through the trees toward the eastern wall. “We’re along the service side. The wall is lower about forty yards north of us. Once you’re over it, the garage is ahead and slightly west. There’s landscaping between the wall and garage that gives decent cover until the last stretch. The main house is beyond that.”

“Front gate?”

“Long drive, almost no cover once you clear the trees. If they forced entry there, they’ll be concentrated around it.”

“And the lower level?”

“Reinforced safe room. Separate secure door, backup power, internal feeds. Giacomo knows to move everyone there if he thinks the property is compromised.”

Mario looks at me directly. “Do you believe he got them there?”