Chapter 5 - The Serpent’s Den
The gunfire outside stopped as abruptly as it had started, leaving behind a silence so heavy and suffocating that it felt like physical weight pressing down on my chest.
No footsteps. No shouts. Just the distant, rhythmic dripping of a leaky pipe somewhere deep within the concrete foundations of the estate.
"Sawyer?" I whispered against the cold metal of the panic room door, pressing my ear to the cold steel.
Nothing.
Beside me, Lily stopped rocking. Her dark eyes snapped open, wide and staring straight into the darkness. The pit bull’s ears twitched forward, a low, ominous growl rumbling deep in his throat again, his hackles rising high along his spine.
I reached out, my fingers trembling as I gripped the emergency release handle and slowly turned it.
Click.
The heavy steel door swung open with a soft hiss of pressurized air.
The hallway outside was a war zone. The walls were scarred with bullet holes, fine plaster dust drifted through the air like snow, and the air smelled heavily of burnt gunpowder and fresh blood.
"Stay here," I whispered to Lily, my voice barely audible.
Stepping out into the ruined corridor, I crept toward the master study with my heart hammering against my ribs.
The door to the study was hanging off its hinges. I braced myself for the worst—blood, bodies, a nightmare scenario where Sawyer lay bleeding out on the Persian rug.
Instead, the room was empty.
The mercenaries were gone. Sawyer was gone.
The only thing left behind on the blood-spattered floor was a single, heavy silver signet ring bearing the serpent crest of Victor Vance, resting right in the middle of a pool of dark, drying blood.
"Maya?"
I spun around. Lily was standing at the threshold of the panic room, the white pit bull right beside her. For the first time in two years, she had left her room without her father holding her hand.
She walked slowly down the ruined hallway, her bare feet stepping softly over the debris, until she stopped right in front of the open study door. Her dark eyes didn't look at the blood or the bullet holes. They fixed entirely on the silver ring lying on the floor.
She reached down, her small fingers picking up the heavy metal ring.
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She didn't drop it. She squeezed it tightly in her fist, turned her head to look up at me, and said five words that changed the entire board.
"They took him to the red door."
