Page 39 of Pregnant Prisoner By the Bratva
For the whole five minutes, these men would linger too long in the north hallway, chatting just outside the surveillance room. They’d laugh, smoke, drink coffee, and complain about the cold.
This was the first loophole I noted.
There were CCTV cameras almost everywhere in the building. Almost. I noticed a couple of blind spots—places where the cameras didn’t fully catch. One was near the pantry downstairs, just beyond the wine cellar. Another was at the corner of the second-floor balcony, where the angle was slightly off.
These were all the windows that I could use. But the most important one was the narrow maintenance passage I found behind the east library shelf. I stumbled upon it by accident while exploring the library’s book collection. It was a hidden crawlspace that must have led through the walls and opened into the utility room at the garage.
I knew this because the night I found it, I dared to crawl into the space, hoping that it would lead me outside the building. I didn’t escape that night because of the guards, and because I also wasn’t prepared.
It broke my heart that I had to turn back and wait for the right moment. I could almost taste my freedom, but if I had made a reckless move and gotten caught, that would’ve been theend for me. I had only one shot at this, and I had to make it count.
I traced every step in my mind and memorized the timing to the second.
A few nights later, I was ready.
The air was colder than usual, sharp and silent. I lay in my bed, dressed in all black so I could easily blend with the night. My heart was pounding like a drum, eyes fixed on the wall clock across the room.
I listened to the movement outside my door—same lazy steps, same casual swing of the flashlight beneath the door. It was clear. The guards hadn’t changed yet.
I waited, nervously chewing my nails.
Paying rapt attention, I listened for the soft buzz of the radio check-in.
Then came the footsteps. Then the deep, gruff voices. Finally, they were switching shifts.
This was it. Now or never.
I slipped out of bed and quietly padded across the room, my shoes making no sound against the floor. Carefully, I opened the door with practiced precision, stuck my head out into the hallway, and looked both ways.
Clear.
I crept low, staying in the shadows like a ninja—an amateur one, in my case. I hurried through the hallway and headed downstairs, my heart thundering in my chest. I moved past the sculpture on the left, then took a sharp turn into the study, followed by the library.
Once inside, I gently shut the door behind me and ran quickly, tracing my fingers along the edge of the third shelf.
I found it.
Click.
The panel shifted just enough for me to slip through. Inside, the air smelled like old wood, and I had to cover my mouth to block out the dust. I couldn’t cough—couldn’t risk making any noise and being caught.
Silently, I moved in the dark, my flashlight held up in front of me. The further in I went, the more I counted the seconds, and felt the vibrations of the walls pressing in on both sides.
Soon, I reached the end and burst into the utility room, ducking through the camera blind spots I’d mapped out in my mind.
Almost there.
I glided through the back of the garage, and before the guard could spot me, I crouched beside a covered SUV. My heart was racing like a galloping horse, my breath too heavy to catch. That was close, I almost got caught.
I waited in silence until the guard made his usual pass of the east fence.
Alright, this was it. Thirty seconds. That’s how long I had.
Without thinking twice, I bolted toward the maintenance gate, anticipating my freedom. I was close, so fuckin’ close, when the lights came back up, forcing me to stop in my tracks. My eyes widened, my heart threatening to jump out of my chest.
“Going somewhere?” Yulian’s voice startled me.
I flinched, clenched my jaw, and slowly turned around to face him. Speechless, afraid, and unsure of what he might do to me.
