Chapter 13 - What Lies Beneath
Julian forced Elena to her knees at gunpoint, using heavy industrial zip-ties from the workbench to bind her wrists behind her back. He took the antique brass key from his pocket and knelt beside the cellar door.
The brass key slid smoothly into the heavy iron padlock. With a dull, heavy click, the mechanism released.
Julian pulled the heavy timber door upward. A blast of cold, damp air rushed out, carrying the smell of earth, stale water, and faint copper. A flight of rough stone steps descended into absolute blackness.
He pulled a high-powered tactical flashlight from his belt, sweeping the beam down the corridor.
""Clara?"" he called out, his voice shaking despite his best efforts to remain steady.
A faint scuffling sound echoed from the darkness below. A low, raspy groan followed.
Julian descended the stairs carefully, keeping his weapon ready, his ears straining for any sign of movement above or below. At the base of the stairs was a small stone chamber, previously used as a root cellar.
Chained to an iron ring embedded in the granite wall was a woman.
Her once-golden hair was matted with filth and dried blood. She wore the ruined remnants of a cashmere sweater—the exact same sweater she had been wearing in the portrait hanging above their fireplace. Her face, thin and hollowed by starvation, turned slowly toward the blinding beam of the flashlight.
Julian froze. His heart stopped dead in his chest.
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The woman raised her eyes, squinting against the harsh light. The hazel eyes were identical to Lily’s. But there was no recognition in them, no relief. Only a wild, predatory hunger.
""Did you bring the money, Julian?"" Clara croaked, her voice dry and ruined. ""Did you bring the accounts?""
