Chapter 8 - THE TUNNEL OF ASHES
Fire spread through the western wing.
The mansion’s sprinkler system remained disabled.
Guests and employees pounded against locked exits.
Lorenzo changed direction.
“We cannot leave them.”
Dante grabbed his arm.
“If you stay, Leo dies.”
“If I leave two hundred people inside my house, I become exactly what Camilla says I am.”
He ordered Dante to take us toward the chapel tunnel.
Then he ran toward the ballroom.
I wanted to call him foolish.
Instead, I understood.
There are moments when survival becomes meaningless if purchased with everyone else’s death.
Dante led Dr. Reed, Bianca, Leo, and me through the boiler room.
The tunnel entrance was hidden beneath a coal grate.
We descended into smoke and darkness.
Bianca could barely walk.
Guilt weighed more heavily on her than the sedative still leaving her body.
“I should have told Mr. Rossi sooner.”
“You tried to switch the bottles,” I said.
“I still drank the wine.”
“You were exhausted.”
“I knew I wasn’t allowed to drink on duty.”
I looked at her.
“That mistake did not give them permission to poison you.”
She started crying.
The tunnel curved beneath the north wall.
Halfway through, Leo’s monitor alarmed.
His breathing slowed.
Dr. Reed checked him.
“He is crashing again.”
“The drug is still in his system.”
She prepared an injection.
The narrow tunnel offered no room.
I sat against the stone and held him to my chest.
“Stay with me.”
His lips felt cold.
He would not latch.
My panic rose.
I remembered Lily’s silent body.
The nurse taking her away.
The empty space where a cry should have been.
“No.”
I pressed my forehead against Leo’s.
“You do not get to leave too.”
Dr. Reed injected the reversal medication.
Nothing happened.
Dante called Lorenzo.
No response.
Footsteps echoed behind us.
Enzo entered the tunnel with two armed men.
He smiled when he saw me holding Leo.
“The grieving maid and the dying baby.”
“Exactly where you were supposed to be.”
Dante raised his gun.
Enzo’s men aimed at Dr. Reed and Bianca.
“Nobody needs to die painfully,” Enzo said.
“Put Leo on the ground.”
I held him tighter.
Enzo looked at me.
“My mother chose you because you were perfect.”
“No family.”
“No money.”
“A dead child.”
“You were supposed to break the moment Lorenzo pointed his gun.”
“You were supposed to run.”
“Then we would find you beside Leo’s body.”
Dante kept his weapon steady.
“What about Derek?”
“A disposable coward.”
“What about Lily?” I asked.
Enzo shrugged.
“Collateral.”
The word emptied something inside me.
Fear disappeared.
I stood slowly with Leo against my shoulder.
Enzo lifted his gun.
“Put him down.”
I stepped closer.
“You paid Derek to kill my daughter.”
“He was instructed to cause a fall.”
“The outcome was unfortunate.”
I moved again.
Enzo smiled.
“You think I won’t shoot a maid?”
“No.”
“I think you won’t shoot Leo.”
I rushed him.
He fired.
The bullet struck the stone beside my head.
Dante shot one guard.
Bianca threw herself at the other.
Dr. Reed pulled Leo from my arms as I slammed into Enzo.
We fell against the tunnel wall.
He struck me across the face.
Then he wrapped one hand around my throat.
“You were never supposed to matter.”
A gun pressed against the back of his head.
May you like
Lorenzo stood behind him, covered in soot.
“Neither were you.”
