Chapter 6 - Sins of the Past
Victor staggered backward as if he had been punched.
"You are a Romano," he said with sudden realization.
Anna nodded slowly.
"My family served yours for three generations," she explained.
"Until you decided my father knew too much and framed him for embezzlement."
She grabbed a heavy crowbar from the weapons rack.
She jammed it under the edge of the steel floor grate.
"You ruined my family's name," Anna grunted as she pushed down on the bar.
"I took a job here as a maid just to find proof of your crimes."
Victor drew his handgun and aimed it at her back.
"I should kill you right now for infiltrating my home," he threatened.
Anna did not even flinch.
She kept pulling on the heavy metal grate.
"If you shoot me, you will never get this grate open by yourself," she replied calmly.
"And your son will die suffocating in the dark."
Victor hesitated.
His hand trembled violently.
He slowly lowered the weapon.
He walked over and grabbed the crowbar next to her.
Together, they pulled with all their remaining strength.
The rusted bolts snapped with a loud screech.
The heavy steel grate shifted and slammed onto the concrete floor.
A dark and damp tunnel was revealed below them.
A blast of cold air rushed up into the room.
"Go, go, go!" Victor shouted.
He grabbed Ethan and lowered him down into the darkness.
Anna carefully picked up Lily and climbed down the rusty ladder.
Victor followed them and pulled the grate back into place above him.
They stood in ankle-deep freezing water.
The tunnel was pitch black.
Victor clicked on a tactical flashlight from his belt.
The beam illuminated a long and crumbling brick corridor.
"Where does this lead?" he asked breathlessly.
"It leads directly to the private boathouse on the lake," Anna answered.
They began to run through the freezing water.
Lily held tightly to her mother's neck.
The sound of distant explosions muffled against the dirt walls above them.
Julian's men were tearing the mansion apart piece by piece.
They reached a heavy wooden door at the end of the tunnel.
Anna pushed it open slowly.
They stepped out into the damp and foggy night.
The boathouse was quiet and seemingly abandoned.
A sleek and armored speedboat was docked in the water.
They had made it out.
Victor let out a massive sigh of relief.
"We are safe," Victor whispered.
May you like
Then, the boathouse lights violently flickered on.
Five mercenaries were waiting for them with their rifles raised.
