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“Attention, please.” I spoke to our family and guests as quietly and as calmly as I could. “This is Slash. Please do not panic. Just stay calm and you’ll be fine. We’re under attack, but help is on the way. I need you to stay low and crawl as quickly as you can toward my voice at the bottom of the stairs. Under no circumstances should you stand or let yourself be seen from a window or door. I need you to get upstairs as quickly as possible. When you get to the second floor, still staying low, scatter into different rooms. I also need some of you set up a barricade in the hallway at the top of the stars. The rest of you, lock yourselves in the rooms, barricade yourselves in, but stay down, do not turn on lights, and absolutely, positively stay away from the windows. Crawl toward me quickly now.”

Shapes began to shift and move toward me. As my vision better adjusted to the darkness and the shapes got closer, I was relieved to see my mother with Nonna safe behind her.

“Romeo,” she murmured as she reached me. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know, Mama. Help Nonna upstairs and barricade yourselves into a room. Be safe.”

Before she could move, I heard a sudden breaking of glass in the dining room followed by a brilliant flash and a loud bang. I had instinctively squeezed my eyes shut and thrown myself on top of my mother and Nonna as soon as the glass broke, landing on them just as the flash bang went off. There was a pause and then aburrrp,burrrpfrom a submachine gun. The thud of bullets hammered the walls of the dining room.

Screams filled the room, and I prayed with everything in me that no one had been hit. After a brief pause, Agent Troy, who was stationed by the patio door, returned fire. He, too, must have realized they had tossed a flash grenade and averted his gaze in time. There was a yelp of surprise from outside and then silence. It wouldn’t last long. They had stopped waiting and were coming to finish their objectives. The attackers would know that there weren’t enough agents to cover every entrance. So, they would likely attack simultaneously from multiple directions, once their probing actions determined which doors were covered—and, more importantly, which weren’t. That plan was sound, but I had a surprise or two of my own for them.

I lifted myself off my mother and Nonna and pushed them in the direction of the stairs. “Go quickly,” I commanded. “Now.”

“Be safe, Romeo,” Mama said as I pressed a quick kiss against her cheek, which was wet with tears. She scurried up the stairs on hands and knees.

Nonna, surprisingly calm, touched my hand as she passed and murmured something I couldn’t quite hear. Oscar, my stepfather, came next.

“Barricade the room,” I instructed Oscar. “Then get them into the bathroom. Stay with them and keep low.”

Oscar nodded and, with a quick clap on my shoulder, moved on. Guests streamed past, Lexi’s parents—her father said nothing, but I knew what he was thinking—Gio’s wife, Vittoria, Bonnie, Gwen, Father Armando, and several more guests, including a few I didn’t know—caterers, I presumed from their outfits. Thank God, no one had been injured so far.

Rock, Stefan, and Finn all volunteered to stay and fight with us on the first floor, but I sent Rock to watch over Lexi’s parents, and asked Stefan and Finn to help spearhead the hallway barricade. They were of little use to us down here without weapons.

My heart beat hard until I finally saw an unmistakable shadow that had to be Lexi crawling toward me, seemingly unhurt. She was behind two other dark shapes that should be Elvis and Basia. Another person trailed Lexi on hands and knees.

“Clear.” I could hear Beau’s voice over Lexi’s shoulder. “Except for those trapped in the kitchen.”

“Go,” I ordered Basia and Elvis, urging them up the stairs.

Elvis scurried up quickly, but Basia paused. “Have you seen Xavier?”

“I haven’t,” I replied. “But I might have missed him. Go. Please.”

She sounded like she wanted to argue but decided the better of it and followed Elvis upstairs. As soon as Lexi got close enough, I pulled her into my arms and kissed the top of her head.

“Did you have to be the last?” I murmured. “Are you okay,cara?”

“I’m not hit, if that’s what you mean. What’s going on?”

“I presume it’s an attack on the first lady.”

“Have you seen my parents and brothers?”

“Si, they’re safe and already upstairs, with Rock keeping an eye on them. Go upstairs and barricade yourself in a room. Make it hard for them to find you.”

“Who’sthem?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”

“Don’t die,” she whispered. “Please.”

“I won’t.” I gave her a kiss and pushed her toward the stairs just as an exchange of gunfire sounded from the kitchen. They were now testing whether we had that door covered or not. Tito was badly outgunned with just a Glock, but at least his presence would give them some pause. Lexi hesitated a moment longer before she left me and crawled up the stairs.

Other than Beau, I didn’t see any other shapes left in the dining room, and I hadn’t yet been able to figure out who was missing except for Xavier.

The stairs creaked behind me, and I assumed it had to be someone heavy coming down, probably Hands. He materialized out of the hallway gloom from the bottom of the stairs. “Is that all the guests?”

“The ones in the dining room, at least. Did you get the sniper?”