CHAPTER 16
1008 Words
The metal of the vent scraped against my elbows as I crawled forward, dragging the file tight against my chest. Dust filled my nose and throat, and every breath burned. Behind me, the chamber shook with the sound of fighting. I heard Damian’s voice, the grunt of impact, the crash of something heavy toppling over. My chest tightened. Every instinct screamed to go back, but his command echoed in my mind. Go.
The narrow tunnel stretched on, swallowing me in shadows. My heartbeat was so loud it drowned out my thoughts. The air was suffocating, hot and damp. I pushed forward anyway, my palms stinging against the rusted metal, my knees scraping raw. Each inch felt like miles, yet I could not stop. The file pulsed in my hands, as though it carried the truth itself, demanding to be kept safe.
Behind me, a shout rose, closer this time. Then the metallic thud of boots against the vent walls. They were coming after me.
Panic flared, spiking through every nerve. I shoved myself faster, not caring about the cuts and bruises blooming along my arms. The tunnel twisted to the right, then sloped downward, leading me into deeper darkness. My breath came in gasps, ragged and desperate. Every scrape of my knees echoed, every sound magnified by the narrow passage.
The vent suddenly dropped, forcing me to slide down a short shaft before spilling into another room. I landed hard, the file skidding across the floor. My palms burned from the impact. Gritting my teeth, I scrambled up, my eyes darting around. The room was small and low-ceilinged, with pipes snaking along the walls and a single flickering bulb overhead. It looked like a maintenance space, forgotten and damp.
I snatched the file and pressed myself against the wall, straining to hear. Footsteps clanged above, then voices, muffled but determined. Kira’s tone sliced through them, sharp and furious. “Find her! She cannot leave with that file!”
My stomach twisted. She knew. She always knew.
I forced myself to move, edging toward a narrow doorway at the far side. The hinges groaned as I pushed it open, revealing another tunnel, wider this time, with water trickling down the center like a shallow stream. The stench of mildew and rust filled the air. I swallowed hard and stepped inside.
The passage stretched endlessly, disappearing into shadow. I kept moving, my shoes splashing in the water, my heart hammering with every echoing step. I had no idea where it led, but anywhere was better than being dragged back into that chamber.
Minutes blurred together. I stumbled once, my ankle twisting painfully, but I forced myself up again. The file grew heavier in my arms, as though it carried the weight of my entire past. My father’s face haunted me from that photo, his shadow stretching across every step I took.
Then, behind me, I heard it again. The metallic clang of pursuit. They had found the vent. They were in the tunnels now.
I pushed harder, desperation clawing at my chest. The passage forked ahead, one path sloping upward, the other plunging deeper. I froze, torn. Which way would lead me out? Which way would trap me forever?
“Allison!” A voice rang out. Not Damian’s. Adrian.
The sound of his voice slithered through the tunnel like smoke, cold and merciless. “You cannot run from this. You cannot run from me. Your father’s sins live in those pages, and you will pay for them.”
My breath caught. I stumbled toward the upward path, clinging to the faint hope of escape. The incline burned my legs, but I forced myself forward, teeth clenched against the ache. Adrian’s footsteps echoed behind me, steady and deliberate, like a predator stalking prey.
At last, a faint light glimmered ahead. Hope flared, bright and desperate. I stumbled faster, the water splashing around my ankles. The light grew clearer, spilling from a grate high above. I pushed forward until I stood beneath it, craning my neck. A ladder rose along the wall, rusted but intact, leading to the grate.
I shoved the file into my shirt, securing it against my chest, then grabbed the first rung. My arms shook with the effort, exhaustion pressing down like chains. I climbed anyway, each step tearing at my muscles, each breath ragged. Behind me, footsteps pounded closer.
Halfway up, the grate above rattled. I froze, my heart leaping. Someone was on the other side.
“Allison!” The voice was urgent, rough with strain. Damian.
Tears pricked my eyes, but I forced my voice steady. “Damian! I’m here!”
The grate screeched as he kicked it open, daylight flooding the tunnel. His hand shot down, reaching for me. “Give me your hand!”
Relief surged through me so strong my knees buckled. I stretched upward, my fingertips brushing his. For a moment, the world narrowed to that connection, the lifeline pulling me from the dark.
Then a hand clamped around my ankle, yanking me downward. I screamed, clutching the ladder with white-knuckled desperation. Adrian’s voice rose behind me, low and triumphant. “You are not leaving, Allison.”
Damian’s grip tightened on my hand, his eyes blazing with fury. “Hold on to me. I will not let him take you.”
The tunnel shook with the clash of wills, the light above so close I could almost taste it, the darkness below dragging me down. My arms burned, my lungs screamed, but I held on, caught between two forces that threatened to tear me apart.
And then, with a strength that felt inhuman, Adrian pulled harder, dragging me off the rung. My fingers slipped. The file pressed against my chest like a curse. Damian’s shout echoed through the tunnel.
“Allison!”
The world spun as my grip broke, and I was yanked downward into the shadows, Adrian’s grasp unrelenting.
The last thing I saw was Damian’s face, stricken and fierce, framed in the light above, as the darkness swallowed me whole.
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