Into the shadows

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Chapter 15: Into the Shadows (Expanded Version)

The silence that followed Luca's escape was deafening. Kristen stared into the shadows where he had vanished, her fists clenched so tight her nails bit into her skin. Victor's phone hung loosely in his hand, the screen still glowing.

Antonio. Gone.

The words rang in her skull like a gunshot.

Victor snapped back into motion, his voice sharp. "Lock down the estate. Nobody gets in or out. Double the guards. I want drones in the air in two minutes."

Kristen forced herself to breathe. Her pulse thundered in her ears, but beneath the panic, something didn't sit right. Luca had been too calm. Too prepared. And that look in his eyes—when he turned to her—it wasn't just gloating. It was something else.

Recognition.

Victor marched down the hall, motioning for her to follow. "We're going to the Command Room."

As they descended into the lower levels of the estate, Kristen tried to push back the rising dread in her chest. The underground hallway stretched out before them, cold and sterile. The weight of secrets hung in the air like damp fog.

The Command Room door slid open with a hiss, revealing a wall of monitors, flickering security feeds, encrypted messages, and real-time tracking systems.

Victor barked orders to the team. "I want every camera reviewed. Someone find me Luca's path and every exit he could have taken. Pull facial recognition. Check for any anomalies in the last hour."

Technicians scrambled.

Kristen stood still, staring at the glowing monitors. Her eyes caught a flicker of movement—Luca, in the west corridor, speaking to someone in a black coat. The figure handed him a small device. She froze the frame.

"There," she said, pointing. "Zoom in on his hand."

The image sharpened. A keycard.

Victor swore under his breath. "That's clearance to the vault level."

He turned on his heel and marched toward the elevator. Kristen followed, but her mind was elsewhere.

Why the vault? What could be down there?

The ride down was silent. The kind of silence that wraps around your throat and squeezes.

They stepped into the corridor beneath the estate, lined with thick steel doors and reinforced walls. The air smelled of gun oil and old secrets.

They found the vault half-destroyed—its door blown inward, thick smoke curling from the frame. Victor rushed forward, eyes scanning the room. Empty, except for—

Kristen knelt beside something glinting in the rubble.

Antonio's watch.

Its face was cracked, blood smeared across the shattered glass. She picked it up, heart thundering.

"He fought back," she said quietly.

Victor scanned the room with a grimace. "Then he was still alive when they took him."

Kristen's eyes flicked to the wall. A blinking red light—barely visible behind a scorched shelf.

She pressed it.

With a mechanical click, a hidden panel slid open.

Inside: a burner phone, vibrating softly. A single text lit the screen:

"Follow the trail. He bleeds red."

Victor's face darkened. "This is a message. A game."

Kristen felt a chill run down her spine. "No. It's a test. He's leaving us a trail, but for what purpose?"

They exited the vault as the security team updated Victor.

"Sir, we've got footage of a black van exiting the compound through the service tunnel," one of the guards reported. "Plates are fake. Van's wiped clean—no GPS, no internal camera feed."

Victor ground his teeth. "He's covering every step."

Kristen glanced at the burner phone again. Something about the message felt... theatrical. Like a performance. Luca had been erratic before—but this? It was too coordinated. Too perfect.

"Victor," she said slowly, "what if this isn't Luca's plan?"

He looked at her, brow furrowed.

"What if this is Antonio's?"

Victor blinked. "Antonio? You think he planned this?"

Kristen's gaze sharpened. "You said it yourself—Luca isn't this clever. And that look in Luca's eyes… it wasn't confidence. It was fear. He's not in control."

Victor hesitated.

Then the realization struck them both.

"What if Antonio staged his own kidnapping?" Kristen whispered.

"To test our loyalty?" Victor asked. "Or... to expose a traitor?"

A heavy silence fell between them.

Kristen nodded. "He knows we'd come looking for him. And in doing so, we'd uncover everyone who's really playing the game."

Victor's phone buzzed. Another message. He read it aloud, voice low.

"You want the King? Then prove you're still loyal to the Crown."

Kristen's blood ran cold.

Antonio was watching. From the shadows. Guiding them.

And they were playing right into his hands.

Victor cursed. "If this is a game, then we need to stop playing checkers and start playing chess."

Kristen's mind was racing. She looked at the trail Antonio had laid, the clues that led nowhere and everywhere at once.

He was the mastermind.

And he was watching every move.

But why?

As they left the vault and stepped back into the moonlight, Kristen realized the real question wasn't where Antonio was.

It was whether they would survive what he had planned next.

To be continued...

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