Chapter 14 - The South Gate Evacuation
The narrow service passage was damp and smelled of old mortar, but it led directly to the ground-floor pantry adjacent to the kitchen. Carrying Lily against my chest with my weapon drawn, I took each step with calculated precision, matching the rhythm of the rolling thunder outside to mask any creak of the floorboards.
Lily clung to me, trembling, but she remained remarkably brave, keeping her face buried in my shoulder. She knew that the floral handbag swinging against my hip was Sarah's, and she gripped its fabric with her small fingers as if drawing strength from it.
Reaching the heavy oak pantry door, I cracked it open an inch. The kitchen was bathed in the pale, eerie light of the storm flashing outside the high transom windows. Two men in dark tactical jackets were searching the main dining hall, their flashlights casting elongated beams across the polished floors. They weren't common burglars. Their movements were swift, synchronized, and deadly quiet.
Taking advantage of their backs being turned toward the living room, I slipped out through the kitchen’s rear delivery entrance and into the freezing downpour.
The rain soaked through my shirt instantly. We sprinted across the gravel pathway, staying low beneath the shadow of the tall privet hedges that lined the southern perimeter. Rather than heading toward the main garage, which was undoubtedly being monitored, I headed for the old south gate cottage where my head of grounds, Thomas, lived.
May you like
Before I could reach the cottage door, a black European sedan with tinted windows idle-started on the gravel lane just beyond the iron fence. Its headlights snapped on, blinding me with a searing white glare.
"Mr. Julian," a cultured, unfamiliar voice called out from the driver’s side window over the roar of the rain. "There’s no need to run through the storm with the heiress. We are only here to settle what was promised."
