CHAPTER 6 – The Hidden Chamber
CHAPTER 6 – The Hidden Chamber
Dominic tore the note from the knife.
Every muscle in his body trembled—not with fear...
...with rage.
The entire mansion had been locked down.
More than fifty armed guards surrounded the estate.
Yet someone had kidnapped his daughter...
Again.
And this time...
They had done it from inside his own home.
Dominic turned toward his men.
"Seal every exit."
"No helicopters."
"No vehicles."
"No one leaves this property alive unless I say so."
The guards scattered.
For the first time in years...
Fear spread through the DeLuca organization.
Not fear of their enemies.
Fear of Dominic himself.
Maya knelt beside the ruined bedroom.
She ignored the broken furniture.
Ignored the shattered glass.
Instead, she looked at the floor.
Something didn't make sense.
"There isn't enough blood."
Dominic looked over.
"What?"
"The explosion."
She pointed to the burn marks.
"It was designed to make noise."
"Not to kill."
She crawled closer to the window.
The broken glass lay mostly...
Inside the room.
Not outside.
She frowned.
"The blast came from outside."
Dominic understood immediately.
"A distraction."
She nodded.
"They wanted everyone looking here."
"So they could leave another way."
Maya slowly stood.
Then her eyes drifted toward the antique grandfather clock Alessia had stared at earlier.
The clock had stopped.
Exactly at 2:17.
She remembered what Alessia had whispered.
"He was fixing the clocks."
Maya walked over.
The clock seemed oddly heavy.
She pressed against its carved wooden frame.
Nothing.
She examined the brass pendulum.
Still nothing.
Then she noticed a tiny raven engraved beneath the clock face.
The same raven...
...that had been carved into the silver key.
Her pulse quickened.
"Dominic."
He crossed the room.
"What?"
"Do you still have the key?"
Without asking why, he handed it to her.
She inserted it into the tiny keyhole hidden beneath the raven.
Click.
A deep mechanical sound echoed beneath the floor.
The grandfather clock slowly rotated.
Behind it...
A narrow stone staircase descended into darkness.
Neither of them spoke.
Someone had built secret passages beneath the mansion generations ago.
Someone inside the family had known.
Dominic drew his pistol.
"You stay behind me."
Maya ignored him and picked up a flashlight.
"If Alessia's down there, I'm not waiting."
For a second...
Their eyes met.
Dominic realized something unsettling.
She wasn't brave because she didn't understand danger.
She was brave because protecting a frightened child mattered more than protecting herself.
Without another word...
They descended together.
The tunnel smelled of dust and damp stone.
Ancient electric lights flickered overhead.
The walls were lined with faded family portraits.
Generations of DeLucas.
Watching silently.
Halfway down the tunnel...
They found footprints.
Small barefoot prints.
Alessia.
Beside them...
Large boot prints.
At least two men.
"They're not far," Maya whispered.
The tunnel opened into a hidden chamber.
Old wooden shelves lined the walls.
Metal lockboxes.
Ancient ledgers.
Stacks of yellowed documents.
At the center stood a marble pedestal.
Empty.
Dust surrounded it.
Except for one clean outline.
Something had been taken recently.
"The Bird," Dominic whispered.
"They found it."
Before Maya could answer...
A slow clap echoed through the chamber.
Both turned.
A tall man stepped from the shadows wearing an elegant gray suit.
Silver hair.
Black leather gloves.
A calm smile.
He looked at Dominic almost affectionately.
"You've grown soft, little brother."
Dominic's face turned ghost white.
"No..."
His voice barely escaped.
"You died."
The man smiled wider.
"So the family believed."
Maya looked between them.
"Who is he?"
Dominic never took his eyes off the stranger.
His answer came in a whisper.
"My brother."
"The man we buried... fifteen years ago."
At that same moment...
A frightened little voice echoed from somewhere deeper inside the underground maze.
"Maya!"
Alessia was alive.
But before either of them could move—
Dominic's "dead" brother slowly raised a detonator in his hand.
Its red light began to blink.
May you like
"I wouldn't take another step," he said with a smile.
"Unless you're ready to bury this entire family for real."
