The Billionaire's Hidden Debt

Chapter 9: The Midnight Escape

Silas didn't wait for the front doors to give way. He shoved the microchip back into the locket, snapped it shut, and pressed it into my hand. "Keep it safe. If we get separated, go to the address I told you."

"Separated? Silas, I'm not leaving without you!" I shouted over the sound of another heavy blow against the door.

"You'll do exactly as I say if you want to stay alive," he growled, grabbing a heavy chair and jamming it under the door handle of the study. He then pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed a button. A section of the bookshelf slid back, revealing a narrow, stone-lined passage. "This leads to the old servant tunnels. It goes directly to the cliffside."

Just as we stepped into the darkness, the study door splintered. I saw the silhouette of a man in a tactical mask—one of Julian Thorne’s mercenaries. Silas didn't hesitate; he pulled me into the tunnel and slammed the secret door shut just as a bullet hissed through the air where we had been standing.

The tunnel was damp and smelled of salt and old stone. We ran, the sound of our breathing loud in the cramped space. My heels were useless on the uneven floor, so I kicked them off, running barefoot behind Silas.

"Why are they doing this?" I gasped, my lungs burning. "They’re billionaires! They can't just attack a house like this!"

"Thorne isn't just a billionaire, Ava. He’s a man who has built an empire on stolen secrets. If he gets that chip, he can control the city's entire power grid. He doesn't care about laws."

We reached a heavy iron gate at the end of the tunnel. Silas threw it open, and we emerged onto a narrow ledge halfway down the cliff. Below us, the black ocean crashed against the rocks. A small, sleek speedboat was waiting, bobbing in the waves.

"We have to jump," Silas said, looking back at the tunnel where flashlights were already dancing in the dark.

"Jump? It's twenty feet!"

"Then I guess you'd better hold your breath," Silas said. He grabbed my waist, and before I could scream, we were falling into the freezing dark.