LOVING MY ENEMY'S SON

WHEN THE GATES FELL

Loving My Enemy's Son

By Ann E

Chapter 2: When the Gates Fell

The word barely left Mrs. Romano's lips before another explosion ripped through the mansion.

The walls trembled violently.

A crystal vase toppled from its pedestal and shattered across the marble floor, sending glittering shards in every direction. Smoke poured into the hallway as the emergency alarm wailed through the estate.

INTRUDER ALERT.

INTRUDER ALERT.

Red emergency lights flashed overhead, turning the once elegant corridor into a scene from a nightmare.

Tiara screamed and clutched her mother's hand.

"Mom!"

Mrs. Romano tightened her grip instantly.

"Don't let go."

The warmth in her mother's voice was still there, but beneath it was something Tiara had never heard before.

Fear.

Servants rushed past them in panic. One maid sobbed as she carried a crying toddler. Another stumbled after them, trembling so badly she nearly fell.

Somewhere downstairs...

Gunfire erupted.

The deafening sound echoed through the mansion like rolling thunder.

Tiara flinched with every blast.

"Mom..." she whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I'm scared."

Mrs. Romano knelt just long enough to cup her daughter's face.

"I know, sweetheart."

Another explosion rocked the west wing.

The lights flickered before dying completely.

Only the crimson emergency lights remained.

The hallway glowed blood-red.

A desperate scream echoed from below.

Then...

Silence.

Mrs. Romano inhaled sharply.

She didn't need to ask what had happened.

She already knew.

"Keep your eyes on me," she said quietly.

She led Tiara away from the grand staircase and deeper into the mansion.

"Mom..."

"No questions."

"But Daddy—"

"He's buying us time."

Those words confused Tiara even more.

Buying time?

Daddy was a businessman.

Why would he be fighting?

Before she could ask another question, a guard staggered around the corner.

Blood soaked through his uniform.

His breathing was ragged.

"They've breached the east wing!" he shouted.

"They're everywhere!"

Mrs. Romano caught his arm.

"How many?"

"More than thirty..."

He pulled free and hurried back toward the sound of gunfire.

Tiara stared after him.

She had never seen so much blood before.

Her stomach twisted.

Mrs. Romano gently turned her daughter's face away.

"Don't look."

They reached the end of the hallway.

Instead of opening a door, Mrs. Romano placed her palm against the carved wooden wall beside an old family portrait.

A quiet click echoed.

To Tiara's amazement, part of the wall slid aside.

Behind it...

A narrow stone tunnel appeared.

Her mouth fell open.

"A secret passage?"

"There isn't time to explain."

Mrs. Romano guided her inside.

The hidden doorway closed behind them with a dull thud.

Instantly...

The sounds of battle became muffled.

The tunnel was cold.

Dark.

The air smelled of damp stone and earth.

Only their hurried footsteps echoed through the narrow passage.

Tiara squeezed her mother's hand tighter.

"Mom..."

"Yes?"

"Are we going to die?"

Mrs. Romano stopped walking.

The innocent question pierced her heart.

She knelt until they were face-to-face and wiped away the tears clinging to Tiara's cheeks.

"No."

Her voice was steady despite the fear in her eyes.

"As long as I'm alive..."

She kissed Tiara's forehead.

"...no one will hurt you."

Unable to hold back any longer, Tiara threw herself into her mother's arms.

"I want Daddy."

Mrs. Romano closed her eyes.

"So do I."

For one precious moment...

She simply held her daughter.

Then...

Heavy footsteps echoed somewhere above the tunnel.

Not one person.

Several.

Mrs. Romano's eyes snapped open.

They had found the passage.

Or they were close.

Either way...

They had no time left.

She stood immediately.

"Come on."

They hurried through the remaining stretch of tunnel until a faint glow appeared ahead.

Mrs. Romano pushed aside thick vines covering the hidden exit.

They stepped into the back garden.

Behind them...

The Romano mansion was already burning.

Smoke curled from shattered windows while flames flickered against the upper floors.

Tiara stared in horror.

"Our house..."

Mrs. Romano gently pulled her forward.

"There isn't time."

She hurried across the moonlit garden toward a thick hedge growing near the stone wall, dense enough to hide a child completely.

She knelt before Tiara and reached into her pajama pocket.

The small black phone was still there.

Relief flickered across her face.

She closed Tiara's tiny fingers around it.

"Listen to me very carefully."

Tiara nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks.

"If anything happens..."

"No!"

Mrs. Romano held both of her shoulders.

"You have to listen."

Her voice trembled.

"You must stay hidden."

"I don't want to."

"I know."

"I want to stay with you."

"So do I."

For the first time that night...

Mrs. Romano's composure cracked.

A tear rolled silently down her cheek.

"But this isn't about what we want anymore."

She pointed toward the hedge.

"You must hide here."

Tiara shook her head desperately.

"No..."

Mrs. Romano gently brushed away her tears.

"No matter what you hear..."

She swallowed hard.

"No matter what you see..."

Her voice almost broke.

"Do not come out."

She touched the phone.

"When it's safe..."

"Call the only number saved."

Tiara looked down at the old phone.

"I don't understand."

"You don't have to."

Mrs. Romano pulled her into one last embrace.

It was tight.

Desperate.

As if she were trying to memorize the feeling of holding her daughter.

"I love you more than anything in this world."

"I love you too, Mommy."

Mrs. Romano kissed her forehead.

Then her cheeks.

Then both tiny hands.

"Be brave."

Before Tiara could stop her...

She gently pushed her into the hedge.

The branches closed around the little girl, hiding her completely.

Mrs. Romano gave one last look toward where her daughter was concealed.

A mother's final glance.

Then she turned...

And ran back toward the burning mansion.

Hidden beneath the leaves, Tiara reached out instinctively.

"Mom..."

Her voice was barely a whisper.

She wanted to chase after her.

She wanted to hold her hand again.

Instead...

She curled into a tiny ball beneath the hedge.

Tears streamed silently down her face.

Then...

The first gunshot echoed across the garden.

Hidden beneath the thick hedge, Tiara wrapped both arms around her knees.

Her mother's last words echoed over and over in her mind.

"No matter what you hear... don't come out."

She pressed both hands over her mouth, forcing herself to stay silent.

Then came another explosion.

The ground shook beneath her.

Thick black smoke curled into the night as flames climbed higher, swallowing the home where she had laughed only hours before.

Gunfire echoed without mercy.

Each shot made her whole body jerk.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

Daddy...

Mom...

Please be okay...

Minutes dragged by like hours.

Then...

The back doors of the mansion burst open.

Several masked men emerged, their rifles raised.

Between them, they dragged two people across the garden.

Tiara's breath caught.

Her parents.

Her father stumbled but refused to kneel despite the blood soaking through his white shirt. His face was bruised, yet his eyes still burned with defiance.

Beside him, Mrs. Romano was thrown onto the stone pathway.

"Leave her alone!" Mr. Romano roared.

One of the men slammed the butt of his rifle into Alessandro Romano's stomach.

He doubled over for only a second before straightening again.

The masked leader stepped forward calmly.

"I expected more from the great Alessandro Romano."

Her father spat blood onto the ground.

"If you're here to kill me..."

His voice was steady.

"...then stop wasting my time."

A faint smile crossed the leader's face.

"Still proud."

He crouched in front of Mrs. Romano.

"Tell me where it is."

Silence.

"I'll ask one last time."

Neither of them answered.

"So be it."

He stood and raised one hand.

"Kill them."

Time stopped.

Mr. Romano suddenly twisted free and threw himself toward his wife.

"Run!" he shouted.

Gunshots shattered the night.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

His body jerked violently.

For one final moment...

He turned toward the hedge.

Though he couldn't see his daughter...

His lips moved.

"Live."

He collapsed.

A cry rose inside Tiara's throat.

She bit down hard on the back of her hand.

Pain exploded through her tiny fingers.

She bit harder.

Anything to keep herself from screaming.

Mrs. Romano crawled desperately toward her husband.

"Alessandro!"

Before she could reach him—

Another shot rang out.

She froze.

Then slowly...

She fell beside the man she loved.

The garden became silent.

Only the crackling fire remained.

Hot tears poured down Tiara's face.

She wanted to hold them.

But she remembered her promise.

"Don't come out."

The masked leader looked around the estate.

"Search the grounds."

Flashlights swept across the flowers...

The trees...

One beam stopped only a few feet from the hedge.

Tiara stopped breathing.

She pressed herself deeper into the bushes, trembling so violently she thought the leaves themselves would betray her.

The light lingered.

Then moved away.

"I don't see the girl."

"Maybe she escaped."

The leader shook his head.

"No."

He glanced toward the burning mansion.

"If she was inside... the fire finished the job."

"No witnesses."

He turned away.

"Burn the rest."

One of the men tossed a burning match onto the gasoline-soaked steps.

Flames erupted instantly, racing across the mansion like starving beasts.

Within moments...

The Romano estate was completely engulfed.

The masked men climbed back into their black SUVs.

Their engines roared to life.

One by one...

They disappeared through the gates.

Silence returned.

Tiara didn't move.

What if they came back?

What if they were waiting for her to make a mistake?

She stayed hidden.

Only when the sound of the engines had completely faded did she remember the phone.

With trembling fingers, she pulled the small black phone from her pocket.

There was only one number.

Her mother's voice echoed in her heart.

"If anything happens... call him."

She pressed it.

The phone rang.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

A man answered.

"...Hello?"

Tiara tried to speak.

Only sobs came out.

Then his voice changed.

"...Tiara?"

She froze.

"H-how do you know my name?"

He ignored the question.

"Are you still at the estate?"

"...Yes."

His next words were calm and firm.

"Stay where you are."

"My mommy..."

"I know."

"My daddy..."

"I know."

His voice broke for the briefest second.

"I'm coming."

The call ended.

Not long after...

The distant roar of engines shattered the silence.

A convoy of black SUVs sped through the ruined gates.

Armed men poured out, securing the estate.

A tall man stepped from the first vehicle.

The moment he saw the burning mansion...

He stopped.

His gaze slowly settled on the two motionless bodies in the garden.

Pain crossed his face.

"I failed you..."

After a long moment, he searched the garden until he stopped before the hedge.

He didn't reach inside.

Instead, he knelt.

"Tiara..."

No answer.

He took out his phone and called the last number.

Immediately, the tiny phone in Tiara's hands began to ring.

She looked through the branches.

The stranger lowered his phone.

"I'm the one your mother asked you to call."

Very slowly...

The branches parted.

A tiny hand appeared first.

Fresh bite marks covered the back of it, streaked with dried blood.

The man's chest tightened.

She had hurt herself just to stay silent.

Then Tiara crawled out.

Her cheeks were stained with soot and tears.

She looked so small...

So heartbreakingly alone.

Before the man could speak, Tiara looked past him.

Her parents.

She broke.

She ran across the garden and threw herself beside her father.

"Daddy..."

She shook his shoulder.

"Please wake up..."

Nothing.

She crawled to her mother, clutching her cold hand.

"Mom..."

Fresh sobs tore from her tiny body.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me..."

She laid her head on her mother's chest and cried until she had no strength left.

The stranger stood silently a few steps away.

He let her grieve.

He let her say goodbye.

Because he knew...

The little girl who had entered this garden tonight as Tiara Romano would never leave it the same again.

To be continued...