Chapter 8 - The Secret Passage
As the door handle began to rotate, my mind raced through every blueprint and architectural anomaly of the historic estate. My grandfather-in-law had built this house during prohibition; old family lore spoke of smugglers' routes and hidden wall panels designed to evade federal agents.
I rushed to the antique floor-to-ceiling bookshelf built into the nursery’s northern wall—the exact spot where the original blueprints indicated an old chimney flue had been converted into a vertical escape shaft.
Click.
The nursery door swung wide open. Julian stepped into the room, a heavy hunting knife gleaming in his right hand, his eyes locked entirely on me with murderous intent.
“Running away again?” Julian purred, taking a slow step toward the crib where Leo was beginning to stir, frightened by the commotion.
My fingers frantically searched along the carved wooden molding of the bookshelf, pressing against the decorative Corinthian capitals. Nothing happened. Julian raised the knife, his smile vanishing into a dark, feral grimace.
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Just as he lunged forward, my palm slammed against a loose brass bookend shaped like an owl. With a heavy, muffled grinding sound, the entire central section of the bookshelf pivoted inward on concealed steel hinges, revealing a dark, dusty brick cavity leading down into the bowels of the mansion.
Without hesitating for a fraction of a second, I scooped Leo out of his crib, ignoring his sudden sleepy cries, and threw myself backward into the dark, hidden shaft just as Julian’s hand grazed the hem of my robe.
