Page 132 of Captive Bride

Merc gives me a We don’t have time for this look, but I proceed anyway.

As I suspected, my real clothes lie in a heap in the corner.

I pull them on quickly, black dress, boots, and dagger securely in place.

“Please tell me you have a way out,” Tristan says to the guys when I reenter the room.

Benny grins mischievously.

“Like a secret passage?”

Tristan nods. “Yes...like that.”

“Follow me,” Benny says, the world’s brawniest tour guide.

The sound of approaching feet echo down the hall, bullets lashing out intermittently. Death, it seems, hasn’t forgotten us yet.

We waste no time running after Benny, his own grin now tucked back behind a mask of determination.

Tristan’s hand finds mine, squeezing tightly as if he’s afraid of losing me now.

I squeeze back just as hard, feeling the same.

Benny and Merc lead us to a room at the end of the hall, pulling the door shut quietly behind us.

“This way.”

Merc approaches a bookcase.

Of course it’s a bookcase.

I wait for him to pull the secret lever. I’m surprised when he instead wedges a candlestick into the side. Like a tire iron, he leverages it to force the door.

Not one for delicacy, Merc.

It swings open on well-oiled hinges, the perfect hidden escape.

My thanks to the Governor.

Merc and Benny take the lead, motioning for us to follow.

Tristan goes ahead, hand still grasping mine in a death grip. Together, we walk into the shroud of darkness.

The stairwell smells dank like a cave. The scents of stone and water wash across my senses, giving me the impression of being underground long before we are.

After several flights of winding steps however, we’re clearly well below ground level.

Benny leads the way with a flashlight. It’s dim, but helpful.

I only trip once, my boots catching on a crack in the ominous tunnel. Of course, Tristan is there to catch me. His hand never leaves my own.

It feels like we’ve been walking for a very long time, my adrenaline refusing to slow down. If anything, the possibility of escape seems to have only made my heart beat faster.

Before, in the Governor’s room, there was nothing more. We were dead and just didn’t have the sense to stop fucking.

Now, life once again pulls at my mind, promising happiness, promising tomorrow.

It terrifies me even more than the looming presence of death.

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