FIFTEEN

The explosion was still echoing in my ears.

I pressed against the wall, heart slamming so loud I could barely hear anything else. The power was still out,no lights, no sound, just darkness and the lingering vibration of the blast under my feet.

Then I heard quick footsteps.

I turned, half-ready to throw the water bottle in my hand, when a figure came into view. My stomach eased a little when I saw the familiar build and buzz cut.

Roy.

I didn’t know him well, not personally. Just one of Wesley’s guards I’d seen around the house. He was usually near the garage or shadowing Wesley from a distance. I only remembered his name because I’d heard Wesley bark something at him earlier in the week while loading something into a black SUV.

Tonight, he wasn’t shadowing. He was sprinting.

“Ma’am,” he said, breath clipped but steady, “I need to move you now.”

I blinked at him, still pressed against the wall. “Move me? Where?”

Roy stepped in front of me, already checking the hallway behind us. “The bunker.”

I stared at him. “The what?”

“The bunker. Now.”

“What bunker?” I snapped. “What the hell is going on?”

Roy didn’t even look at me. “I’ll answer your questions later. But not now. We need to move. Immediately.”

I turned back toward my room without waiting. “Give me a second, I need to grab something...”

Panic made everything slower. My hands wouldn’t work right. I flung open drawers, tossed clothes around but couldn’t think straight. A shirt? Jeans? What was I even doing?

Another deep boom rumbled through the walls, closer this time. My breath caught. I grabbed the first thing I saw, an old cotton nightgown, and pulled it over my head without bothering to fix my hair or grab shoes.

Roy was at my door before I made it back into the hallway. “Now, ma’am.”

He pulled me along quickly, through a hallway I didn’t recognize. Past a painting, he shoved open a hidden panel and pushed a narrow bookshelf aside. Behind it were steel stairs leading down into blackness.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” I muttered, but I followed. I had no choice.

The air got colder as we descended. My feet were bare. My heart still hadn’t slowed down.

Whatever this was, it wasn’t random.

And we weren’t safe. Not yet.

The bunker felt like a freezer.

Concrete walls, dim lights humming low above, a steel door that looked like it could survive a war. It was sterile, sealed off from the rest of the world, but I could still feel it, the faint rumble under my bare feet, the dull, distant vibration of chaos happening right above us.

Roy stood by the door, his back straight, his hand resting lightly near the weapon strapped to his side. His earpiece blinked, but he said nothing. Just listened. Waiting.

I couldn’t sit. Couldn’t even stand still.

I paced the length of the room, arms crossed over my chest, heart refusing to calm down. I hated not knowing. I hated being buried underground like some fragile thing that needed to be hidden. And I hated that Wesley hadn’t called. Not a word. Not a message.

“Who the hell was that?” I snapped, stopping near Roy. “Was it Marco?”

He didn’t flinch. “I don’t have confirmation.”

“Don’t give me that. You know something.”

“I really don’t,” he said calmly. “It could be Marco, or someone working for him, or someone else entirely. I’m in the dark, same as you.”

That didn’t help. At all.

I turned away from him, ran both hands through my hair, and started pacing again. “What kind of house needs a damn bunker, Roy?”

“A house with enemies,” he said simply.

I laughed under my breath, but it wasn’t funny. “This is insane.”

I pulled out my phone and dialed Wesley. Straight to voicemail.

I tried again. And again. Same thing.

Where the hell was he?

Was he upstairs? Caught in the blast? Was he fighting?

Was he even alive?

My stomach twisted hard at the thought. I sat down on the bench near the far wall, elbows on my knees, trying to breathe slowly. Trying to stop the spiral.

Another boom rocked the ceiling. Not as loud as the one before, but enough to send a chill down my spine. I flinched and covered my ears, teeth clenched. The vibrations moved through the floor, a low rumble that felt too close.

Roy didn’t move.

I looked at him, needing something...anything to ground me.

But he just stood there. Listening to static.

And I stayed exactly where I was, trying not to lose it.

The silence came so suddenly it felt unnatural.

No more booms. No more vibrations. Just the low hum of the lights in the bunker and the sound of my own shallow breathing.

I sat frozen on the bench, watching Roy. He hadn’t moved in a while. His posture was too still, too controlled. He was listening intently to something I couldn’t hear. And then—

He stiffened.

Just a slight shift, like his body had received a message before his mind could catch up.

He pressed two fingers to the earpiece in his ear. His eyes narrowed slightly, locked on the wall in front of him like it held answers.

I stood slowly. “Roy?”

He didn’t answer right away.

“Roy, what is it?”

Then he spoke, voice low. “Okay.”

Just that. One word.

He turned to me, expression unreadable. But something was different. His face was calm. Too calm.

“Ma’am, I don’t want you to panic,” he said carefully, “but I’m receiving word they’re already in the house.”

My stomach dropped like the floor had disappeared beneath me.

“What?” My voice came out small, like it didn’t belong to me. “Who’s in the house?”

“The same people responsible for the explosion,” he said. “They breached the perimeter a few minutes ago. Took out the guards stationed at the entrance.”

All of them.

That was what he didn’t say, but I heard it anyway.

My heart started racing again, harder this time. “They took out our guards?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I blinked at him, panic rising in my chest so fast I could barely hold it down. “Where the hell is Wesley?”

Roy didn’t answer immediately.

“I—I haven’t heard anything from him yet,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean—”

“Doesn’t mean what?” I cut in, voice cracking. “That he’s okay? That he’s not up there in the middle of all this?”

“I don’t know,” Roy said, finally sounding human. “I really don’t.”

The silence came back again, heavier now.

They were inside. The guards were gone. Wesley was unreachable.

And I was locked in a bunker beneath the house, completely alone.

Except for the fear crawling up my spine.