Part 9:

Seeing her was no use to him down here, and he had no need of it. Her scent gave her away. white flowers, jasmine, the faint warmth of musk under it, the same one that had been in his head since the first second he’d pulled her against him on that cliff. He spoke low into the dark, half to himself, half to her.

You run and you leave it behind you the whole way, stubborn girl. He opened his eyes and followed it through the black. Isabella’s fingers found the keypad. She couldn’t see a single number on it. She felt for them in the dark, counting by touch, working the code she’d known for years. She pressed the first. The beam swung up the passage.

Anita. She kept her fingers steady and pressed the second. Os held the torch ahead of him. She turned her head and his eyes locked onto her. He broke into a run. She went for the next ones, fumbling through them, but the blood was running into her eyes now, hot and stinging, dragging at her focus.

A single thought beat through her. Not now. Please, not now. 10 ft. In the thin spill of light, she hit the fifth. Her finger was reaching for the last when his arm clamped around her waist and tore her backward. The pull threw her aim off. Her hand came down on the wrong key, and she knew it the instant it landed. A red light began to flash overhead, on and off, and a short alarm cut through the tunnel.

Then, a heavy bolt drove home inside the door. They both went still, staring around them. “Oh, no! No!” Isabella pressed her hand to her head. Os looked at the keypad, then at her. What happened? I hit the wrong key. The words scraped out of her. The tunnels locked, his jaw said. For how long? The truth of it settled over her before she said it, and her voice came out barely there.

12 hours? Os turned the torch on her? So, you’ve locked us both in here? 12 hours? He raised the beam on her and stared like he couldn’t believe what she’d done. The look lit the anger in her. I wouldn’t have hit the wrong key if you hadn’t dragged me off it. And you wouldn’t have been at that door at all if you hadn’t run from me.

The words came out rough, but his face didn’t match them. Still trying to lock me in, Anita. He pulled the phone from his back pocket, checked it, found no signal this far under the stone. Then he crossed to the sealed exit, and drove his fist against it twice. Tony,” his shout went up the passage and died there, swallowed before it could carry.

No boots, no answer, only the weight of all that rock between them and anyone who might hear. A faint smile touched Isabella’s mouth. She held his eyes, her voice almost gentle, “Down here. You can hear them. They can’t hear you.” He stepped in and took her face in one hand, tipping it up. “Look at me.

” The torch rose and his eyes found the blood above her brow. You’re bleeding. She held still under his fingers. I fell. We need to clean this. His thumb skimmed the skin beside the cut, slow, like he didn’t want to hurt her. And there it was. For a single second something soft moved through his eyes. She had braced for anger, for punishment, for the cold, familiar shape of her father’s disappointment.

None of it came. He was holding her chin like the wound mattered to him, and her whole body didn’t know what to do with that. Stubborn girl. He let her go and swept the light down the tunnel. You’re going to make surviving you a full-time job. His gaze moved over the dark. Is there a medkit down here? Anywhere to sit out 12 hours? She stared at him.

He hadn’t raised his voice. He hadn’t grabbed her. Hadn’t made her pay for it. She caught herself nodding like a child who’d been caught at something and let off easy. Second turn on the left. OS brought the torch back to the keypad. What’s the code, Anita? Isabella looked at the floor and gave him nothing. Come on.

His tone had picked up a dry edge of humor. I’ve seen the tunnel. We’re stuck down here together. Knowing the code can’t cost you much now, especially after the spot you’ve just put us in. Isabella folded her arms and turned her face away from him. 2 1 0 0 6 0 1 He tried the keys. Nothing moved.

The pad had locked with the door. He swung the light back down the passage toward the second turn. Then we go find somewhere to wait it out. He started walking, and the words dropped lower as she fell into step. And if you run from me again, Anita, I’ll punish you for it. They moved together down the passage, his torch throwing their shadows long against the stone.

Oros kept his eyes ahead, but the words were aimed at her. “You know these tunnels well better than well.” “That shouldn’t surprise you.” She matched his pace, careful to sound bored by it. “I told you I run the house.” He angled the beam toward her as they walked, watching her face in the swing of it.

Men like Veto don’t give staff the bones of the house. She swallowed before she could stop herself. The questions were circling closer to ground she couldn’t afford, and she kept her voice level. Mr. Ki trusts me. And why is that? He kept his tone soft with something underneath it. When she didn’t answer, he let the silence stretch a few steps, then tried another way in.

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