Chapter Six
Mara knew somethingwas wrong the second the house went quiet.
Not the normal quiet—the kind that settled in after midnight when everyone found their rhythm and the building breathed around them.This was sharp.Abrupt.Like a held breath that never let go.
Then the gunshot came.
Close.
From inside the house.
She was off the bed and moving before the sound finished echoing, heart slamming hard enough to rattle her ribs.Another shot cracked, followed by shouting—short, panicked—and then a heavy thud that vibrated through the floor.
“No,” she whispered.
She grabbed her phone.No signal.No bars.She tried the panic button they’d shown her anyway.
Nothing.
Her chest tightened.Luca’s voice cut through her memory—If something feels wrong, don’t be brave.Be gone.
Mara ran.
The panic room was hidden behind the false wall panel they’d showed her how to access on the first night.She slammed it shut behind her and locked it, breath tearing in and out as she pressed her back to the steel reinforced wall.
More shots.Screams.Then silence.
Footsteps approached her door.
A voice she didn’t recognize called out, calm and coaxing.“Mara, I know you can hear me, and I know that I cannot get you out of that room.You need to come out yourself.We just want to talk.”
She said nothing.
Something heavy struck the wall.Once.Twice.
Then another voice—young, shaking, and one she recognized as one of the young guards.
“Mara,” he said, fear breaking through every word.“Please.They said if you don’t come out—”
Pain cut his voice off mid-sentence.
Mara’s hands flew to her mouth.
“Open it,” one of them said lightly.“You don’t want this on your conscience.”
She stayed frozen, nails digging into her palms, until the sound of the guard crying out—really crying out—ripped something open inside her.
“Stop,” she shouted.“I’m coming out.”
The door slid open.
The guard was on his knees before her, blood on his shirt, face pale and wracked with terror.He looked at her like she was his salvation.
