Chapter 4 - The Subterranean Tomb
Julian dragged me down three flights of stone stairs, deep into the belly of the Hawthorne manor. The air grew instantly colder, smelling of damp earth and aged wine.
He threw me onto the concrete floor of the antique wine cellar, which doubled as a reinforced panic room. The walls were two feet of solid steel and concrete.
"Enjoy the silence, my love," Julian mocked, wiping his hands on a towel. "No one can hear you scream down here. Not even God."
The heavy, vault-like door slammed shut. The mechanical locks ground into place with a terrifying, final thud. The lights flicked off, plunging me into absolute, suffocating darkness.
I curled into a ball on the freezing floor, shivering violently. My head throbbed, and every breath was a battle against my own broken ribs. But as the darkness settled around me, I didn't cry.
I reached up and pressed a hidden button on the back of the sapphire pendant. A microscopic green LED blinked to life in the pitch black.
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"Elias," I whispered, my voice echoing in the small, freezing room. "I'm in the vault. They have the papers. The trap is sprung."
A tiny, bone-conduction speaker in the pendant hummed against my collarbone. Elias's voice, deep and impossibly calm, vibrated into my skin. "Hold on. The cavalry is here. Cover your ears."
