Heiress Revenge Contract

Tunnel Of Escape

The first shot splintered the glass in the hallway.

Fareeda screamed, stumbling back from the door. Selena grabbing onto her tightly as her arms covered her head.

“Stay down!” Dale barked, moving low and fast toward the hallway. He run into his room and walked out with a gun, crouching down and walking slowly targeting the heads on the outside.

Outside, the night erupted.

Two black SUVs had stopped at the gate, and men in tactical gear were climbing over. Muzzle flashes lit up the driveway.

“f**k! We’ve been followed.” Dale muttered, firing a few times outside killing three men but the other bullets missed.

Selena’s heart was pounding so hard she thought she’d pass out. “Dale—”

“Get to the kitchen. Now!”

She didn’t argue. She grabbed Fareeda’s arm, pulling the older woman to her feet. Fareeda was shaking, but she moved, because it was Dale’s order.

As they ran, Selena caught a glimpse of movement outside the kitchen window. A man in a driver’s uniform was crouched behind the hedges, phone to his ear, hand flashing signals.

Fareeda’s driver. James.

He’d been posted outside for nights like this. He saw her at the window and gave a sharp nod.

Help was coming.

“Dale! James is outside! He’s calling backup!” Selena shouted.

Dale didn’t look back. “Good. Keep moving! Go!!”

He fired again, covering them as they reached the pantry. The door looked ordinary. It wasn’t.

He slammed his palm against the bottom shelf. There was a click, and the back wall of the pantry slid open, revealing a narrow concrete tunnel lit by dim emergency lights.

“Get in. Both of you.”

Fareeda froze. “What is this?”

“Just go mom, I’ll tell you about it later.”

Selena pushed Fareeda forward. “Go, mama. Please.”

Fareeda went, tears already spilling down her face. Selena followed, and Dale shut the door behind them just as gunfire tore through the kitchen.

The tunnel was cold and smelled of damp stone. It sloped downward, then leveled out. Fareeda was breathing hard, clutching Selena’s hand like it was the only thing keeping her upright.

Selena kept looking back. “Dale?”

He came through the door a second later, slamming it shut and twisting the lock. His face was tight with focus, but his left arm hung wrong. Blood was spreading across his sleeve.

“You’re hit,” Selena said immediately.

“It’s a graze,” he said, already moving. “Keep walking. The exit’s a quarter mile down. It comes out in the old service tunnels under the west lot.”

Fareeda whimpered. “My boy…”

“I’m fine, mama,” he said, softer now. “I’m not dying on you.”

They moved fast. Every second, Selena expected the tunnel to shake with gunfire. But the walls held. James had bought them time.

When they reached the exit, Dale pushed them up first. Fresh air hit Selena’s face, cold and sharp. They were in an abandoned parking structure, empty at 3 a.m.

Dale climbed out last, and the moment he was on his feet, he staggered.

Selena caught him. “You’re not fine.”

“It’s fine,” he gritted out, pulling away. “We need to move before they find the tunnel exit.”

Fareeda was crying openly now. “Stop lying to me, Dale! You’re bleeding!”

He stopped. Looked at her. And for the first time, he looked scared.

He groaned softly, his bloody hand on his wound.

“If I go to the hospital, they’ll find me mom. Jacob has people everywhere. I can’t risk it. Not yet.”

Selena’s chest ached. “Then we fix it ourselves.”

She was already pulling off her scarf, wrapping it tight around his arm above the wound to slow the bleeding.

“There’s a 24-hour pharmacy two blocks down. I’ll go.”

“No,” Dale said immediately.

“Don’t ‘no’ me,” she shot back, eyes flashing. “You’re not dying because you’re stubborn. I’ll go alone. Jacob’s men are looking for you, not me. Yet.”

He stared at her, then nodded once. “Cash only. No cards. And don’t take more than ten minutes.”

She was gone before he could argue more.

The pharmacy was quiet, the night clerk barely glancing up as Selena grabbed gauze, antiseptic, sutures, painkillers, and a sling. She paid in cash, hands steady even though her heart was racing.

When she got back, Dale was leaning against the car, pale but upright. Fareeda sat in the passenger seat, praying under her breath.

Selena climbed in the back and called for him to take a seat before pulling his arm toward her.

“Hold still.”

He groaned, louder tgis time as she dipped her finger in his wound and slipped out the bullet from his arm. She picked up the alcohol and poured it on his wound before wiping it clean.

The bullet had grazed deep, tearing through muscle. It wasn’t clean, but it wasn’t fatal.

“Don’t be dramatic,” she muttered, threading the needle. “I’ve stitched my own hand before.”

“Of course you have,” he muttered back, but he didn’t pull away.

Fareeda watched from the front, silent now, her hand over her mouth as.

Selena worked fast and sure. When she tied off the last stitch, she wrapped his arm and secured the sling.

“There,” she said, sitting back. “You’re not going to die on me. Not yet.”

Dale looked at her, something unreadable in his eyes. “Thanks.”

She shrugged. “Don’t make me do it again.”

He sat begins as sge took over the drivers seat and drove for an hour, avoiding main roads, taking back routes Dale knew by heart. Fareeda fell asleep in the front, exhausted and sedated by relief.

When they stopped, it was in front of a small cabin tucked into the woods. The paint was peeling, the roof sagged slightly, but the place was clean.

Selena stared at it.

“My mother and I came here every summer,” she whispered. “After she died, I never came back.”

Dale didn’t say anything. He just opened the door for her. She woke Fareeda up and they all headed inside.

Inside, it smelled like dust and old lavender. Photos still hung on the walls. Selena’s mother, younger and laughing, holding a fishing rod with her tiny Selena beside her.

Selena exhaled. For the first time since the gunfire started, her hands stopped shaking.

Fareeda took one look around, then hugged Selena tightly. “She was a good woman. I can feel it.”

Selena nodded, blinking fast. “She would’ve liked you.”

Dale moved to the kitchen, starting a fire on the old wood stove. One arm was stiff, but he didn’t complain.

When the cabin was warm, he sat down at the table, watching Selena as she walked around, touching things like she was afraid they’d disappear.

“You brought us here,” he said quietly.

She turned. “It’s safe. No one knows about this place. Not even my father.”

“Good,” he said. “Because we’re not done.”

Selena sat across from him. Outside, the wind moved through the trees. Inside, it was quiet for the first time in days.

Fareeda slept on the couch, finally at peace.

Selena looked at Dale’s bandaged arm, then at his face.

“You could’ve let us go. You didn’t have to stay and fight.”

“I’m not leaving you,” he said simply.

She held his gaze. “Good. Because I’m not leaving you either.”

It wasn’t a confession. Not yet. But it was close.

Outside, the night was still. Inside, for the first time since Jacob disowned her, Selena felt like she had somewhere to stand.

And someone to stand with.