There were security cameras, but not as many as the Locatelli’s place. I also noticed several blind spots. I have Gia to thank for teaching me about those blind spots. I used to think it wouldn’t be useful, but it’s proving extremely helpful now.
“They said to check on the captives,” I heard one of the guards’ voices, and it sounded like they were getting suspicious about something happening in the room, and they were heading there. I wasn’t sure about the total number of people here yet.
The path we were taking was darker than the previous one. We decided to hide there for a moment to think about our next steps.
“Sis, what do we do? We don’t know the way out,” Sienna asked.
I couldn’t answer Sienna because I didn’t know either. This place had so many twists and turns.
“Let’s just go with it, Sienna. Our priority is to avoid getting caught again. We’ll find the way out eventually.”
I took a deep breath, holding my sister’s hand tightly, with the other hand firmly gripping the gun, ready to use it if needed.
“Let’s go this way.” I chose to take the darker corridor instead of returning to the path where we first came from, which had a high chance of running into a guard or possibly Nicolas.
Sienna and I had gone all over the place, and as I suspected, this darker, narrower corridor had fewer people.
“Where are you coming from?”
I stopped walking as I heard a man’s voice. I peered ahead and saw four men. Two of them were ascending the stairs. I looked around to see where they came from and spotted a cellar door. It dawned on me that this wasn’t just a house; it was an underground facility. This explained why Nicolas was so confident that Gio would never find us. Who would even think that someone would bring hostages to an underground facility?
“Why? We were just getting some fresh air outside.”
Outside? That’s the exit, then! If they were coming from outside and used this to get back in, this must be the way out.
“The captives are missing! Find them!”
They quickly left, alarmed by our disappearance. I hid in the darkness again to avoid being seen by them. I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard their shouts growing fainter in the distance.
“Sis, it looks like that’s the way out!” I could hear hope in Sienna’s voice. I nodded at her and smiled.
We proceeded carefully, making our way to the exit. I let Sienna go first.
She climbed the stairs that led to the cellar door. She attempted to open it but failed.
“It’s locked!” She panicked when she realized we couldn’t open it without a key.
I took the key that I had taken from the man earlier. I thought it might be useful.
“See if it works here.”
Sienna took the key and tried each lock on the door, and one of them clicked open.
“They’re in here!”
I glanced back to see two armed men running towards us.
“Sis, they’re here!”
“Focus, Sienna. Open the door; I’ll handle them.”
I aimed my gun at them. While I wasn’t sure if I could hit them where I wanted to, I still fired at the two men. I shot one of them twice before he fell, and the other, probably in panic, I hit in the chest.
In the distance, I could hear the heavy footsteps of Nicolas’ men. They were coming this way!
I tried to shoot them again, but my gun was out of bullets.
“Sis, it’s open!”
Sienna emerged first, and I followed suit. I heard a gunshot, and for a moment, I thought my foot had been hit.
“Are you okay, sis?”
I nodded at Sienna, and we both ran away from there. In all honesty, you wouldn’t expect an underground facility beneath the earth. The place was incredibly concealed, and you wouldn’t easily notice the cellar door. Geez, Millie! No time to be in awe of the place they brought you to!
“OMG!”
Sienna screamed as we were shot at. The bullets hit a branch near where I was standing but not us. They were chasing us now, and we needed to escape them. This was our only chance to break free. If they caught us again, we might never get another opportunity.
We found ourselves deep in the forest, and I had no idea how far it extended or if we would come across a road.
We had distanced ourselves from our pursuers for now. We hid briefly behind a large tree to catch our breath and think about our next move. I could hear their voices, so I was certain they weren’t too far away.
Sienna was silent and dazed, so I squeezed her hand. This was not an experience she should be going through, to be honest. She shouldn’t have to experience this.
“We’ll escape, Sienna-”
“Sis…” Sienna interrupted what I was about to say when she called me. She looked up at me, and for the first time, I couldn’t read what was going through her mind. “I have a plan, sis.”
I raised an eyebrow slowly. Even without her saying anything, I already had a bad feeling about it.
“I’ll distract them, and you escape-”
“No, Sienna! I won’t do that. We will escape together,” I immediately shouted back at her.
Sienna shook her head and held both my arms tightly. “You know we can’t escape together, sis…” she lowered her voice. “Someone needs to divert their attention to get one of us out. And because I put you in this situation, let me protect you.”
“No! I should be the one protecting you, Sienna! I’m the older sister-”
“You’ve been protecting me all my life, sis. Let me do this for you.” She took a deep breath. “I’ll lead them away, and when they follow me, you escape. Get help from Gio and come back for me. They won’t kill me, sis. If they do, they’ll never get what they want. Trust me.”
She helped me take off my blazer and take it from me, then pulled her hair back with the hair tie Dario had given me, imitating the style I had earlier.
“They’ll think I’m you, so I can grab their attention. When that happens, you escape, sis.”
I still didn’t like her plan, but judging by Sienna’s expression, nothing could stop her.
“Sienna…”
She embraced me. “This is the only thing I can do for you, sis. It’s my fault that you ended up in this situation. Let me save you from this.”
I hugged her tightly too. I was afraid for her, but…
“Be careful. I’ll ask for help, but before that, please… hang on there.”
“I will, sis. I love you. See you soon.”
I hugged Sienna even tighter, the kind of embrace you never want to release.