Chapter 7 - The Empty Safe
My heart slammed against my ribs.
“Adrian!” I screamed, my voice echoing down the grand hallway. “Adrian!”
He sprinted back into the room, Marcus right behind him. When he saw the unconscious guards and the empty desk, his face turned into a mask of pure rage.
“Lock down the gates!” Marcus yelled into his radio. “Nobody in or out!”
I stood frozen near the fireplace. The heavy steel door of the wall safe, hidden behind Dominic’s portrait, was still hanging open.
“She took it,” I whispered, pointing to the empty shelf where the black leather ledger had been.
Adrian stared at the safe. “June wouldn’t do this. She can barely walk without a cane.”
“She didn’t take it,” a weak voice groaned from the floor.
It was David, one of the guards. He was clutching the back of his head, struggling to sit up.
Adrian knelt beside him. “Who hit you? Was it Victor?”
David shook his head, wincing. “It was Celeste.”
“Celeste?” Adrian barked. “She was tied to the chair!”
“She had a concealed blade,” David gasped. “She cut the zip-ties. When we turned our backs, she hit us with the fire poker. She grabbed the old woman and the ledger.”
Adrian stood up, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles were white.
“She’s using June as a hostage,” Marcus said grimly. “To guarantee safe passage to the Romanos.”
Adrian looked at his watch. 45 minutes until Victor’s flight to Geneva took off with little Leo.
And now, Celeste was escaping with June and the syndicate’s most dangerous secrets.
“Boss,” Marcus said quietly. “We have to split up. I’ll take a team after Celeste. You go to the airport and get the boy.”
Adrian looked torn. The agony in his eyes was unbearable. He was being forced to choose between the nephew he had just discovered, and the woman who had raised him.
“No,” Adrian said, his voice steeling. “Celeste doesn’t know the estate grounds. She’s on foot. She’ll head for the old service tunnels.”
He turned to me.
“Lily. You know the tunnels better than anyone. You clean them.”
I nodded slowly, terrified.
“Take Marcus,” Adrian ordered. “Find June. Get the ledger. Do whatever it takes.”
“What about you?” I asked.
Adrian racked the slide of his handgun. “I’m going to the airport. I’m bringing my nephew home.”
He sprinted out the door, the roar of a V8 engine echoing through the driveway seconds later.
I looked at Marcus. He was a terrifying, muscular man, but his eyes held a strange kindness.
“Lead the way, kid,” he said, drawing his weapon.
I grabbed a heavy flashlight from the security desk, and we ran toward the kitchen. Behind the massive walk-in freezers was a heavy iron door. It led to the Prohibition-era smuggling tunnels that connected the mansion to the riverfront.
I unlocked the door, and the smell of damp earth and rust washed over us.
We moved silently in the dark. The only sound was the dripping of water from the stone ceiling.
About a quarter mile in, I saw it.
A flicker of light.
“Kill the flashlight,” Marcus whispered, pulling me behind a stone pillar.
Up ahead, near the tunnel exit, stood Celeste. She was holding a small flashlight in her teeth, frantically trying to unlock the rusted iron gate that led to the river.
Beside her, kneeling in the dirt, was June. The old woman looked exhausted, her blue dress stained with mud.
Celeste had a gun pointed directly at June’s head.
“Hurry up!” Celeste hissed to herself, yanking on the padlock. “Come on!”
Marcus raised his rifle. “I don’t have a clean shot. It’s too dark.”
If we stepped out, Celeste would pull the trigger.
I looked around the dark tunnel, desperate. Then, my eyes fell on a heavy, cast-iron steam pipe running along the wall, just above Celeste’s head.
It was part of the old boiler system. I knew it well, because I was the one who had reported it leaking three weeks ago.
I looked at Marcus. I pointed at the pipe, then made a turning motion with my hand.
He nodded, understanding instantly.
I crept away from the pillar, staying flat against the shadows. There was a large, red pressure valve about twenty feet to our left.
I reached it, gripping the cold metal wheel.
I took a deep breath.
And I spun it as hard as I could.
With a deafening SCREECH, a massive cloud of scalding white steam erupted from the pipe directly above Celeste.
She screamed, dropping the flashlight and stumbling backward as the thick fog blinded her.
“June, get down!” Marcus roared, sprinting forward.
Through the steam, I heard a gunshot echo through the tunnel.
I covered my ears, squeezing my eyes shut.
When the steam finally cleared, the tunnel was dead silent.
I ran forward, my heart in my throat.
Celeste was on the ground, clutching her shoulder, crying in pain. Marcus kicked the gun away from her and zip-tied her hands behind her back.
But it wasn’t Celeste I was looking for.
“June!” I cried, falling to my knees in the dirt.
The old woman was sitting against the stone wall. She looked up at me and smiled weakly.
“I’m alright, Lily,” she whispered.
I hugged her tight, tears stinging my eyes.
Marcus picked up the black ledger from the mud, wiping it off. “We got it. Let’s get you home, Mrs. Porter.”
We hauled Celeste back to the mansion and threw her into the basement cell. This time, Marcus locked it himself.
June and I sat in the kitchen. I made her a fresh cup of tea, wrapping her in a warm blanket.
For a moment, things felt safe. We had saved June. We had the ledger.
Then, the kitchen phone rang.
I picked it up.
“Lily,” Adrian’s voice came through the receiver. He sounded hollow. Completely broken.
“Adrian? Did you find him? Did you get Leo?”
“I’m at the gate,” Adrian whispered. “The plane hasn’t boarded yet.”
“Then stop him!” I yelled.
“I can’t,” Adrian choked out.
“Why not?”
There was a long, terrible pause on the line.
“Because the boy standing next to Victor,” Adrian said, his voice cracking. “The boy in the gray trench coat…”
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“What is it, Adrian?”
“It’s not Leo.”
