Chapter 8 – The Hidden Exit
At dawn, Grace slipped into the abandoned wine cellar.
Dust coated hundreds of forgotten bottles.
Spiderwebs covered the ceiling.
The blueprint led her to an old brick arch.
She counted seven rows of bricks.
Exactly as Emma had written.
The seventh brick moved inward.
A hidden latch clicked.
Part of the wall slowly swung open.
Cold air rushed out.
Grace entered a narrow tunnel.
Unlike the concrete chamber, this passage looked decades older.
She followed it for nearly two hundred feet.
Finally...
A rusted iron door appeared.
Its hinges groaned softly.
She pushed.
The door opened into Oliver's room.
The boy stared in disbelief.
"You came back."
Grace smiled.
"I promised."
Oliver hugged her before she could speak.
He was painfully thin.
Grace looked around.
The room had books.
Fresh clothes.
Electricity.
Enough food to survive.
Whoever built this prison wanted Oliver alive.
Just invisible.
"Can you walk?"
Oliver nodded.
"We have to leave now."
Suddenly...
Footsteps echoed inside the tunnel.
Someone else was using the escape passage.
Grace quickly pulled Oliver behind the bed.
The iron door slowly opened.
A man wearing black gloves entered carrying a medical cooler.
Grace had never seen him before.
May you like
But Oliver whispered only one word.
"Doctor."
