Chapter 3 - The Hidden Exit
The white smoke poured through the ceiling grate, rapidly filling the small room with a suffocating haze.
Sophie coughed violently, pressing her apron against her mouth and nose.
Luca did not waste a single second panicking.
He grabbed a heavy wooden chair from the corner and smashed it against the unyielding oak door.
The chair splintered into pieces, but the door remained entirely intact.
“We can’t break it!” Sophie yelled over the hissing sound of the gas.
Luca dropped the broken chair leg and aimed his flashlight at the floor.
He dropped to his knees, running his hands over the dusty wooden floorboards.
“My grandfather was paranoid,” Luca coughed, his eyes watering.
“He never built a room with only one exit.”
Sophie dropped to her knees beside him, her lungs burning as the toxic smoke thickened.
She frantically helped him search for a seam or a latch in the old wood.
The edges of her vision began to blur.
Her head pounded with the terrifying pressure of oxygen deprivation.
“Here!” Luca shouted.
His fingers had found a slight indentation near the edge of a heavy rug.
He pulled the rug back, revealing a rusted iron ring set flush into the floorboards.
He grabbed the ring and pulled with all his strength.
The rusted metal groaned but refused to move.
Sophie scrambled over and grabbed the ring with both hands, ignoring the searing pain in her injured shoulder.
“On three,” Luca commanded.
“One, two, three!”
They pulled together, throwing their combined weight backward.
The heavy trapdoor finally ripped open with a loud crack, revealing a dark, narrow shaft plunging downward.
“Go!” Luca ordered, shoving Sophie toward the opening.
Sophie didn't hesitate.
She swung her legs into the dark shaft and grabbed the rusted iron ladder attached to the wall.
She climbed down as fast as her shaking limbs would allow.
Luca followed immediately, pulling the heavy trapdoor shut behind them to block the toxic gas.
They were standing in a narrow brick tunnel that smelled of damp earth and old river water.
The air was stale but breathable.
Sophie leaned against the brick wall, gasping for air as her heart hammered in her chest.
Luca stood beside her, his chest heaving, his pristine suit covered in dust and sweat.
He aimed the flashlight down the long, dark tunnel.
“This leads to the old wine cellar beneath the estate,” he explained.
“We can get out through the delivery loading dock.”
They moved quickly through the darkness, the silence broken only by the sound of their echoing footsteps.
Sophie’s mind raced as they walked.
“Mr. Moretti.”
“If Vanessa wanted you dead, why didn't she just shoot you?”
Luca kept his eyes focused straight ahead.
“Because if I die in an accident, my assets transfer cleanly to the next of kin.”
“If I am murdered, the syndicate goes to war, and the money gets frozen.”
Sophie frowned, confusion knotting in her stomach.
“But you don't have a next of kin.”
“Your mother is your only living relative.”
Luca stopped walking.
He turned the flashlight toward Sophie, casting long, terrifying shadows against the brick walls.
“No, she isn't,” Luca said quietly.
“I have a younger brother named Matteo.”
“He was exiled from the family ten years ago for stealing from the commission.”
Sophie realized the horrifying truth.
Matteo was the one Vanessa was working for.
They reached the end of the tunnel and found a heavy steel door leading to the wine cellar.
Luca pushed the door open, ready to confront whatever awaited them in the mansion.
The wine cellar was completely empty.
But lying in the center of the room was the crumpled body of one of Luca’s most trusted security guards.
The man had been shot twice in the chest.
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Beside the body, written in the victim's own blood across the concrete floor, was a chilling message.
“Pier 42.”
