Chapter 6 - The Hidden Passage
Lorenzo forced himself to stand, leaning heavily against Elena to keep from collapsing.
He pointed a shaking finger toward the massive oak bookshelf on the far wall.
He told Clara to pull the third book on the second shelf, a heavy volume of Italian history.
Clara rushed to the shelf, her hands slick with nervous sweat as she grabbed the spine of the book.
She pulled it backward, and with a soft mechanical click, the entire bookshelf swung outward.
A narrow, dark corridor was revealed, smelling of damp stone and old dust.
Lorenzo explained that his grandfather had built the estate during Prohibition and included hidden servant tunnels.
Giorgio began slamming a heavy object against the bedroom door, splintering the expensive wood.
Lorenzo ordered Clara and Elena to get inside the tunnel quickly.
Clara stopped in her tracks, panic suddenly seizing her chest like a vise.
She refused to leave without Mia, who was still fast asleep in the servant's wing on the first floor.
Lorenzo warned her that going down there was a suicide mission while Giorgio’s men were roaming the house.
Clara gripped the heavy pistol tightly, her maternal instinct completely overriding her fear.
She stated firmly that she was a mother first and would burn the estate to the ground before leaving her child.
Lorenzo stared at her for a brief moment, a flicker of profound respect crossing his exhausted face.
He nodded and told her that the tunnel connected directly to the laundry room near the servant's wing.
Clara stepped into the darkness, with Elena supporting Lorenzo right behind her.
As they closed the bookshelf, they heard the bedroom door finally crash open.
Giorgio screamed in rage as he found the room empty and his assassin bleeding on the floor.
Clara led the way down the pitch-black staircase, using her free hand to guide herself along the cold wall.
When they reached the bottom, Clara pushed open the hidden door leading into the laundry room.
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The lights abruptly flicked on, blinding them.
Isabella, the head housekeeper, was standing in the center of the room with a shotgun leveled directly at Clara’s chest.
