Chapter 4 - The Dark Corridors
The darkness was absolute, heavy, and suffocating.
Fay gasped, instinctively stepping backward until her spine hit the cold plaster wall.
Dominic did not panic.
His voice drifted through the blackness, calm and commanding.
He ordered Vincent to secure the hallway and not let anyone through those doors.
The sound of a heavy bolt sliding into place echoed through the darkness as Vincent locked them in.
Fay heard the subtle squeak of Dominic’s wheelchair moving across the carpet.
A small silver lighter sparked to life, casting long, eerie shadows across Dominic’s face.
He motioned for Fay to come closer to the desk.
She hesitated, then crossed the room carefully, avoiding the broken porcelain still scattered on the floor.
Dominic handed her a spare loaded magazine for his pistol.
He told her that if anyone came through the door who was not Vincent, she needed to know how to reload for him.
Fay’s hands trembled as she took the cold metal clip.
She told him she did not know anything about guns.
Dominic looked at the calluses on her hands and the faded, jagged scar on her left wrist.
He quietly pointed out that women who ran from bad landlords did not have defensive knife wounds on their arms.
Fay froze, the small flame reflecting in her terrified eyes.
She realized Dominic had been studying her much closer than she thought.
Before she could invent another lie, a massive explosion shook the foundation of the mansion.
The blast shattered the tall windows of the master suite, raining broken glass across the floor.
Fay screamed and dropped to her knees, covering her head with her hands.
Dominic wheeled himself backward, shielding his face from the flying debris.
The heavy wooden doors to the bedroom violently rattled as someone kicked them from the outside.
Vincent shouted from the hallway, his voice strained and frantic.
He yelled that they were completely overrun and he could not hold the corridor alone.
Then, the sound of three rapid gunshots silenced Vincent's voice entirely.
A heavy silence followed, broken only by the sound of rain blowing through the shattered window.
The doorknob slowly began to turn.
Dominic raised his weapon, aiming directly at the center of the wood.
Fay squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for the worst.
The door swung open, and a man stepped into the flickering light of the small flame.
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It was not an assassin.
It was Carmine, the security guard Fay had supposedly replaced on her first day.
