Chapter Twenty-Two: The Weight of the Smoke

The hand on my mouth was so tight that it was hard for me to breath.

I couldn't see. The world was nothing but a dark cloud and the deafening roar of gunfire echoing off the marble walls. I tried to scream Silas’s name, but the heavy, gloved hand clamped over my mouth squeezed tighter and tighter, cutting off my air completely.

“Quiet,” a voice hissed directly into my ear.

It wasn't Julian neither was it one of Arthur Vance's tactical men. The voice was rough carried a familiar tone that made my heart leap against my ribs.

Elias.

My heart beat stopped at a point.

Before I could even process it, he violently pushed me backward. My boots skidded against the floor as he dragged me through a narrow opening in the wall in that particular place we were. It was not the clean, white corridor where my Godmother stood, but a dark, utility panel, probably another secret place in Silas world.

With the little energy I had, I throws his hand away and turn toward him. At least I was confident enough to do that compared to if I had found out it was Julian.

I rolled onto my hands and knees, coughing violently, sucking in the cool air of the panel. My eyes ran with hot tears from the chemical smoke.

Elias!" I choked out, my voice cracking as I looked up at him through the shadows. He was panting, his face smeared with black mask, holding a heavy iron wrench in one hand and my silver pistol in the other.

“What are you doing?! Silas is still in there! Lena is still in there!" I didn’t bother thinking he was going to betray me too,probably by capturing me. Hell No! I kinda trust him.

"Silas told me to grab you if the room went dark, Vienne!" Elias whispered frantically, his eyes wide with a panic, terrified energy. He shoved the silver pistol back into my shaking hands. "The moment Julian raised his hand, Silas signaled me.”

“He knew they were going to do something funny even if he wasn’t sure what that was going to be.”

The sound of gunfire echoed somewhere behind us. My chest tightened and I totally became more scared.

"We can't leave them!" I scrambled to my feet, my fingers gripping the handle of the gun. Julian is going to kill him and probably Lena. Marissa is going to let them!"

His expression got darkened. Silas can handle a gunfight, Vienne! You can't!" Elias grabbed my shoulders, his grip surprisingly tight, forcing me to look at him. “Julian doesn’t want Silas. He wants you.”

My stomach dropped.

Elias shook his head.

“You’re the key, Vienne. As long as he has you, everyone else becomes leverage. So this is more reason why we have to move. Now."

“What about Lena?” I asked.

“Silas would take care of her.”

My teeth rattled in my head. The raw thought of the betrayal was a physical ache in my chest.

“Trust me, I’m helping you,” Julian’s final words echoed in my mind, sounding so twisted. How does he even expect me to trust him. He wasn't helping me.

“Vienne” Elias called out, brushing me off my thought.

“So where do we go from here” I whispered, wiping the tears from my cheeks.

Down to the subterranean transit tunnels," Elias said, turning and pointing his flashlight down a stairs that descended into absolute blackness. "It bypasses the main elevators. If we're fast, we can reach the lower garage before Vance's cleanup crew seals that perimeter."

We didn't waste another second. Elias went first, his boots sounding rapidly against the stairs. I followed right behind him, the silver pistol tucked firmly back into my coat pocket. My muscles burned from the exhaustion of the last hour, but the image of my Godmother’s pale, weeping face kept me moving. Nineteen years? And Marissa had locked her away for nineteen years. The aunt who had braided my hair was a monster.

Elias pulled me. “We are running out of time”. He did that so we could be faster.

As we moved, we reached a massive, concrete tunnel. Some area had a biological-looking cables—the same ones connected to the Level Four mainframe upstairs—snaked along the ceiling.

"This way," Elias breathed, jogging down the left fork of the tunnel.

The silence down here was super terrifying. It felt like we were walking through the throat of a sleeping beast. We ran for what felt like hours, our breathing heavy, until the tunnel suddenly expanded into a wide, subterranean loading dock.

A single, matte-black armored SUV was at the center of the concrete floor, its engine sounding with a low rumble.

The headlights turned off and on and then off again, painting long shadows against the far wall.

At first i had thought it was victor men but I decided to ask Elias first.

“Is that Silas’s vehicle?"

"Yeah," Elias gasped, slowing down as we approached the driver's side. "He kept it staged down here in case when needed for situation like this”.

Somehow, Silas had prepared for this. Of course he always had.

Elias reached out, pulling the car door open. The interior lights clicked on, casting a glow over the leather seats. But before Elias and I could step inside, the low rumble of the engine suddenly cut out.

The electronics went completely black.

The overhead green backup lights in the loading dock flickered twice, then died, plunging the entire concrete area into total darkness.

"Elias?" I whispered, my hand instantly flying to the pocket of my coat, my fingers wrapping around the cold grip of the pistol. "What happened to the power?"

"I... I don't know," Elias’s voice sounded incredibly small, drifting from the darkness near the front of the vehicle. "The secondary grid just went completely offline. Someone cut the hardlines from the master terminal upstairs."

Click.

The sharp sound of a flashlight switching on shattering the blackness.

The beam didn't come from Elias. It came from the top of the concrete stairs leading down into the loading dock. The same stairs we just passed. The bright white light washed over the SUV, pinning Elias and me in its glare.

A pair of heavy, expensive leather boots clicked slowly down the concrete steps, the sound echoing sharply against the vaulted ceiling.

"You always did have a bad habit of running away from the table before the bill was paid, Elias," a smooth voice echoed through the dark.

The flashlight beam shifted slightly, illuminating the man holding it. He was elderly, his silver hair perfectly slicked back, wearing a tailored charcoal overcoat with a dark crimson silk scarf looped around his neck. His hands were covered in thin, black leather gloves, and a silver-headed walking cane rested in his left hand.

Victor Laurent.

Behind him, four heavily armed operators stepped into the light, their guns raised, the sights dancing across my chest. I was getting hot and scared.

Victor stopped at the bottom of the stairs, a cold smile pulling at his wrinkled lips as his gaze settled directly onto my face.

"Hello, Vienne," Victor murmured softly, lifting his gun and pointing the silver tip right at my me. "Your brother sends his regards. Now, be a good girl and hand over the gun.

The real board meeting is about to begin."