Chapter 9 - THE DRAINAGE TUNNELThe air down in the subterranean tunnels was thick, humid, and smelled of stagnant rainwater and old mud.
My expensive Italian leather shoes squelched through the sludge as I followed Elena’s flashlight beam deeper into the labyrinth beneath the Moretti estate. The sound of our heavy breathing echoed off the curved concrete walls, accompanied by the distant, menacing drip of water.
"Where does this lead?" I asked, wiping sweat and grime from my forehead.
"Straight out to the old drainage ditch near the southern perimeter," Elena whispered back, her gun held ready in front of her as she swept the light across every dark intersection. "Coincidentally, the exact same drainage ditch where your sister's car was found eight years ago."
I stopped dead in my tracks. The horror of the connection hit me with crushing weight. "Alessandra didn't crash because of bad weather or alcohol, did she?"
"No," Elena said, pausing to look back at me with grave eyes. "Her car was pushed off the cliff road from this exact drainage outlet. The silent partner we're hunting tonight was the one who orchestrated the cover-up from inside the family before Victor and Thomas even took over the operation."
"Which means whoever is hunting us right now... is family," I said slowly, the terrible truth settling over me like a shroud.
Out of the twenty-three adults sitting at my dinner table tonight—my trusted cousins, my uncles, my closest advisors—one of them was a cold-blooded killer who had murdered my sister and was now trying to bury me in the exact same grave.
Suddenly, a metallic clang echoed from the tunnel far behind us.
Clang. Clang. Clang.
Boots hitting the metal ladder. They had found the hidden hatch.
"They're right behind us," Elena muttered, grabbing my arm. "Run!"
We sprinted through the winding concrete pipe, the flashlight beam bouncing wildly against the damp walls. My lungs burned, and my legs felt like lead, but survival instinct kept me moving forward.
Ahead of us, a faint circle of gray moonlight appeared at the end of the tunnel. The exit.
We burst out of the drainage pipe into the cool night air, gasping for breath as we tumbled onto the wet grass just outside the estate's southern security fence.
Before we could even stand up, the blinding high-beam headlights of a black SUV suddenly snapped on, pinning us against the fence like deer in the headlights.
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The engine roared to a deafening pitch.
The heavy vehicle accelerated, hurtling straight across the wet lawn directly toward us.
