The glass shattered before her scream could form.
Noah tackled Ava to the floor, shielding her with his body as shards rained down like frozen tears. Luca spun toward the window, gun drawn, eyes scanning the shadows beyond. The air reeked of gunpowder and danger.
Another bullet sliced through a vase behind them—closer this time.
"They found us," Noah growled. "We have to move. Now."
Ava's ears rang. Her heartbeat thundered in her chest like a war drum. She nodded, dazed but standing. The hallway lights flickered again, casting strange, strobe-like shadows as if the house itself was panicking.
Luca led them through a hidden passage Ava had never noticed before—behind the old grandfather clock in the library. The narrow stairwell spiraled downward, carved into stone. Cold and damp, like a grave.
"Where does this lead?" Ava gasped.
"An underground exit. Old estate tunnels," Luca muttered. "From the time the mansion was used during the war. We'll come out by the woods. But they'll be chasing."
They descended fast, their footsteps echoing through the dark. Every sound felt amplified — their breath, their fear, the creak of the old stone walls.
Above them, boots thundered across the floorboards.
Noah turned to Ava. "Stay close. Do not stop. No matter what you hear behind you."
They burst into a small chamber at the tunnel's end. Luca yanked open the rusted door, revealing a field soaked in moonlight. The trees beyond stood like silent watchers, their limbs twisted against the sky.
They ran.
Ava's lungs burned. Her legs ached. But she didn't stop.
Behind them, a distant voice barked a command — then the sharp rip of automatic gunfire shredded the night.
Luca turned, firing a shot into the darkness. "Go! Keep going!"
They reached the woods just as a black SUV tore through the field behind them.
Noah grabbed Ava's hand and pulled her between the trees, weaving through the underbrush. Twigs snapped beneath their boots. Branches clawed at her skin.
In the chaos, Ava's mind pulsed with a strange sensation — a sharp, piercing memory not her own.
A white room.Cold hands on her temples.A voice saying: "She's the perfect candidate. Erase it all."
She staggered mid-step. Noah caught her.
"Ava!"
She blinked. "They did something to me... I saw it. I remembered—just for a second."
Luca appeared beside them, breathless. "The memories are surfacing. It's starting."
"What is?" she asked, voice trembling.
He looked at her with haunted eyes."The part of you they buried."
To be continued...