Chapter 2

I woke up to screaming.

Gunshots.

The home invasion was happening again.

I was back. Reborn into the same nightmare.

My first thought: Mother.

I raced to her room.

The gang members were already there.

One of them struck her. She fell, her head hitting the floor hard.

Just like before.

A wave of despair hit me, but I pushed it down.

I knew what to do this time.

"This way!" I yelled to the few loyal household staff still on their feet.

I directed them towards the reinforced panic room in the basement, a relic from my father's more paranoid days.

I knew Ethan would delay. He was with Sophia, blinded by her.

Catherine was delirious, muttering.

"He looked… like the son… Serpent's Coil leader…"

My blood ran cold.

I remembered.

Sophia, with tears in her eyes, had begged Ethan to release that very son after a major bust.

"He's just a misguided youth, Ethan! Everyone deserves a second chance!" she' d cooed.

Ethan, always eager to please her, had controversially ordered his release.

Now, that "misguided youth" was leading the attack on our home.

The police response would be slow.

Ethan' s fireworks party on Long Island, his grand gesture for Sophia, was diverting emergency services.

My only hope was Mr. Arthur Sterling.

He was a retired federal judge, a close friend of my late father, immensely influential.

He was like a king in this city.