Chapter 1 - THE SECOND EXIT
The first deadbolt began to turn from the outside.
Manuel’s head snapped toward the door.
Rosalie went white.
“That shouldn’t be possible.”
The brass thumb turn moved another fraction of an inch.
Someone on the other side had a master key.
Manuel crossed the room and shoved an upholstered chair beneath the handle.
“Show me the staircase.”
Rosalie gathered the bloodstained skirt of her wedding gown.
She moved toward the antique wardrobe.
Another heavy blow struck the suite door.
The frame shuddered.
“Rosalie.”
Emmett’s voice remained disturbingly calm.
“You are making this much worse than it needs to be.”
Rosalie froze.
Manuel caught her eyes.
“Don’t listen to him.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain while we move.”
She stared at him for one second.
Then she nodded.
Together they pushed against the wardrobe.
It barely moved.
Manuel threw his shoulder into the carved walnut.
The legs scraped across the floor.
Behind it was a narrow wooden panel almost invisible beneath faded wallpaper.
Rosalie pressed her palm against the molding.
Nothing happened.
“Where’s the latch?”
“I haven’t used it since I was sixteen.”
The suite door shook again.
This time the upper hinge groaned.
Manuel searched the panel with both hands.
His fingers found a shallow depression.
He pushed.
A section of wall released with a soft click.
Cold air breathed into the room.
Behind it waited a staircase barely wide enough for one person.
No lights.
No railing.
Only darkness descending between stone walls.
Manuel turned toward Rosalie.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
It was a lie.
He could see it immediately.
Blood had begun spreading again across the back of her dress.
He pulled off his tuxedo jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
His phone was still connected to Maya.
“Maya.”
“I’m here.”
“We found the service stairs.”
“Where do they lead?”
Rosalie answered.
“Old kitchen corridor.”
“Can you reach the east grounds from there?”
“Yes.”
Maya’s voice sharpened.
“Do not go outside.”
Manuel stopped.
“Why?”
“Emmett’s security has already closed the property.”
As if confirming her words, floodlights suddenly ignited beyond the bedroom windows.
The black lawn became white.
Men were moving below.
At least six.
Rosalie looked through the glass.
“He knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That I found the key.”
A violent crack came from the suite door.
The chair shifted.
Manuel guided Rosalie into the passage.
“Go.”
She descended.
Manuel stepped in after her and pulled the hidden panel closed.
Darkness swallowed them.
Three seconds later, the bridal suite door burst open.
Voices flooded the room.
Manuel could hear Emmett clearly through the wall.
“Where is she?”
Furniture scraped.
Dr. Voss said something Manuel couldn’t understand.
Then a security guard answered.
“The wardrobe was moved.”
Rosalie stopped breathing.
Manuel reached for her hand.
Her fingers were ice cold.
Footsteps approached the hidden panel.
Then Emmett spoke.
“Bring her back alive.”
A pause.
“And take Nelson’s phone before he speaks to anyone.”
Manuel felt Rosalie’s hand tighten around his.
Maya had heard every word.
“So much for the concerned father,” she whispered through the phone.
Manuel lowered his voice.
“Where do we go?”
“L.D. 317.”
Rosalie turned.
Maya continued.
“If that key is what I think it is, you don’t need to escape Pinecrest yet.”
“You want us to stay?”
“I want you to find out why Emmett Durham is willing to trap two hundred wedding guests behind a security gate to get that key back.”
Rosalie looked down the staircase.
Something changed in her face.
Fear remained.
But underneath it was something harder.
“My mother had a room downstairs.”
Manuel looked at her.
“What kind of room?”
Rosalie swallowed.
“A room my father told everyone had been sealed for twenty years.”
A beam of light suddenly appeared above them.
The hidden panel was opening.
May you like
Manuel took Rosalie’s hand.
“Then that’s where we’re going.”
