Chapter 28: Home
Aaron didn’t even pause to watch the fight.
He simply stepped around the struggling men, stepping over the fresh blood on the floor, and walked straight down the quiet corridor toward the master study.
Upstairs, the two guards who heard Luke’s scrambled radio message rushed to the safe room door. One of them quickly punched in the override code, his fingers slick with sweat.
The heavy steel door slid open with a loud groan.
"Madam Isabella!" the guard called out, stepping inside. "We need to move—"
He stopped. The room was empty.
"Where the hell is she?" the second guard hissed, running his flashlight over the blank walls.
Then he spotted the dark, narrow gap in the stone wall near the back corner. The old lever had been pulled down, leaving the secret hatch resting open.
"Shit!" the first guard swore. He pulled his radio up. "Sir she’s disappeared. We can’t find her!"
Down the hallway, Luke was still fighting. He took a heavy punch to his jaw, coughing blood onto the floor, but he grabbed the man’s arm, twisting it until the bone popped, then shoved him hard into the wall.
He picked up his fallen radio, his breath coming in ragged gasps.
"No you fools. She found the old tunnel! She’s inside! There’s a lever!" Luke yelled into the microphone, his voice hoarse and desperate.
"Pull the candle holder on the right wall! Get inside and bring her back!"
The guards in the safe room threw themselves toward the open stone hatch, ducking their heads as they hurried into the narrow, dark tunnel after her.
Deep underground, the air was cold enough to turn Isabella’s breath to white steam.
She walked as fast as she could, her slippers dragging through damp mud and small stones.
The rough rock walls pinched tightly on both sides. Every few seconds, she had to stop and touch both sides to make sure she hadn’t walked into a dead end.
Her mind was a blur of panic. ’Left... was it left here?’
She reached a fork in the passage, her trembling fingers searching the stone divider.
Her memory was failing her. It had been years since she was a little girl playing down here. The darkness felt heavy, smothering her.
Then, behind her, a faint sound echoed through the tunnel.
’Thud. Thud. Thud.’
Heavy boots hitting the wet ground. Distant at first, but getting louder by the second. Shouting voices bounced off the low stone ceiling.
"Mrs. Carter!"
Isabella gasped, her heart dropping into her stomach. They were coming. Kian’s men had found the entrance.
"Mrs. Carter, stop!" a voice boomed through the dark. "It’s not safe down here!"
Panic surged through her body like a shock of electricity. She didn’t care about the sharp rocks or the cold air anymore. She turned toward the left passage and ran.
She stumbled almost immediately, her foot catching on a raised tree root poking through the stone.
The hit the damp ground hard, the palms of her hands scraping against sharp gravel. Pain shot up her knee, but she dragged herself right back up, crying softly as she scrambled forward in the dark.
"Please," she sobbed, her voice small and lost in the echoing tunnel. "Please leave me alone..."
Behind her, the footfalls grew louder, pounding against the earth.
"There she is!" a guard shouted.
A hand reached out of the dark, grabbing her violently by the sleeve of her coat. Isabella screamed, twisting her body, striking out wildly with her fists.
"Let go of me! Let me go!" she shrieked, tears streaming down her pale, dirty face.
Another guard caught her by the waist, pinning her arms to her sides. "Madam, calm down! We’re taking you back up to the house!"
"No! No, please!" Isabella begged, her voice breaking into hysterical sobs as she kicked and struggled against their heavy grip.
"Don’t take me back! He’s going to lock me away! He’s going to kill me! Please, I’m begging you!"
The guards held her tight, startled by the pure, unhinged terror in her voice.
"Madam, please stop moving," one of them said, trying to lift her up. "Mr. Carter just wants you safe—"
’BANG!’
A deafening roar shattered the narrow tunnel, the sound so loud it made the earth shake.
The guard holding Isabella’s waist jerked violently. He let out a strange, wet gasp, his heavy hands slipping away from her coat. He collapsed onto the damp ground like a cut tree.
Isabella froze, her breath catching in her throat. The smell of copper and burnt powder filled the small space instantly.
’BANG!’
A second shot echoed through the dark. The second guard let out a choked cry, dropping to his knees before falling flat on his face next to his partner.
Silence fell over the tunnel. The heavy, suffocating silence of death.
Isabella sank to her knees in the damp dirt, shaking so violently she could barely keep herself upright.
She pressed her bruised hands over her mouth to stop herself from screaming.
She couldn’t see who was standing in the dark. She couldn’t see the blood pooling near her slippers. All she could hear was the quiet drip of water from the ceiling.
Then came the footsteps.
Slow. Measured. Unhurried.
The heavy boots stopped a few feet away from her.
The quiet sound of a match striking flared in the darkness, followed by the faint, distinct smell of tobacco smoke.
Isabella remained on her knees, shivering in the freezing cold, her wide, blind eyes staring helplessly toward the sound.
"Princess," a voice said quietly.
It wasn’t Kian. It wasn’t the guards.
The voice was deep, warm, and entirely steady.
Isabella’s chest heaved. The tears spilled over her cheeks, cutting clean lines through the dirt on her face.
Her lips trembled as the realization hit her, breaking through the thick, terrifying fog of fear that had consumed her all morning.
"...Aaron?" she whispered into the dark.
Aaron stepped closer, tossing his lighter aside. He reached down, his large, warm hand gently wrapping around her trembling arm, lifting her up from the cold floor as if she weighed nothing at all.
"I’ve got you," he said softly. "I’m here to take you home."