Chapter 15 - The Run to the Surface
Julian roared in fury, shoving the heavy shelving unit aside with brutal strength, but Sophia was already gone. She bolted through the narrow maintenance crawlspace behind the archive racks—a tiny service tunnel she had personally designed three years ago precisely for this kind of emergency.
Her lungs burned as she scrambled up the vertical ladder leading directly into the ground-floor kitchen. The mansion above her was dead silent, but she could hear the heavy thud of boots echoing through the marble hallways. Julian’s mercenaries had breached the upper levels.
She pushed open the concealed floor panel beneath the massive oak dining table, slipping out into the room just as three armed men in tactical gear rounded the corner from the main foyer.
"Found the maid!" one of them barked into his shoulder radio. "Sweep the courtyard—don't let her reach the security gate!"
Sophia didn't run toward the gates. She sprinted in the opposite direction, toward the grand staircase leading to the private residential wing. If Julian’s men had the security mainframe, the nursery and the upper living quarters were their primary targets. They weren't just here to kill Rocco or take the estate; they were here to erase the next generation of the Moretti bloodline.
As she reached the top landing, the nursery door stood wide open, its heavy wood splintered inward.
Inside, sitting on the edge of the velvet rocking chair where she had once held Leo as an infant, was a man she had never seen before—an older, scarred version of Julian, wearing the heavy gold signet ring of the Marseille syndicate.
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"Ah," the man smiled, turning slowly as Sophia stepped into the room with her fists clenched. "The little maid who thinks she can play chess with masters. Tell me, child... where did Rocco hide the ledger?"
Sophia didn't answer. She looked past him, her eyes widening in horror. Tied to a chair in the center of the room, gagged and bleeding from a head wound, was Elena.
