Chapter 12

A Mysterious Warning

The laundry room was a dark, steamy place in the back of the Romano villa where people did their chores and stayed quiet.

 People who had any power in the house usually stayed away from it.

 The smell of lye and wet linen filled the air, which was very different from the sweet smell that filled the upper floors. 

A figure stepped out of the shadows here, where the old washing machines were making noise and the clothes were drying.

 She was as fragile

and unassuming as the lace she was carefully folding.

Lita, a young maid with big, scared eyes and a timid demeanour that made her look like she

was fading into the walls, walked up to Violet slowly.

 As she held a pile of freshly washed linens to her chest, her hands shook a little.

 She looked around the big room nervously, as if

she thought someone was watching her. 

She seemed to be in a hurry, and Violet could feel her nerves right away. Lita didn't talk much.

She didn't talk to the other servants or the family members very much. 

Her silence was a way to protect herself from the harsh realities of her life in the Romano household.

 But now,

her big brown eyes, which were usually downcast and averted, were fixed on Violet with a strength that showed she wasn't usually shy.

There was a desperate plea in their depths, a silent communication that spoke of fear and a desperate need to get something important across.

 Her soft voice, barely above a whisper,

made me feel suspicious and curious right away, like she was about to tell me a dangerous

secret.

"Signorina Violetta," Lita said, her voice barely audible, like a breathy whisper that hung in

the damp air. 

She looked around again, her eyes darting to the dark corners of the room, and then she leaned in closer, her small body shaking a little.

"There is a way. 

A way out". 

Violet's heart raced as a spark of hope lit up the darkness of her

despair.

 A way out?

The very idea was a dangerous indulgence, a fantasy she had forbidden herself to think about for too long.

But the way Lita's eyes looked scared and the way she spoke in a low voice made her words seem a little more believable.

"How?"

Violet whispered back, her voice so low that it was almost a breath.

 This was like Lita's

secret. 

She looked around the laundry room, and the rows of clothes that were drying seemed to silently disapprove of them.

Lita nodded quickly, her eyes wide with a fear that was stronger than her usual shyness.

"In the basement... under the old wine cellar."

There is a tunnel. 

A passage from long ago, from the time of the war. 

Violet felt a chill run

down her spine when she read the words. 

A secret way out.

A hidden path that leads away from the Romano estate's oppressive walls. 

It was a lifeline,

a sign of hope in the dark that was closing in on them. 

But Lita's face still looked worried,

and her brow was furrowed with worry.

She leaned in even more, her voice dropping to a soft whisper that Violet could barely hear.

Her breath was warm against Violet's ear.

 "But be careful, Signorina," she said, her eyes full

of a scary kind of knowledge."

"Not all paths... not all paths lead to freedom."

There was a heavy sense of dread in the air because of the cryptic warning.

What did she mean?

Was the tunnel a risk?

Was it a trick?

Violet's flicker of hope faded, and a new wave of doubt and suspicion took its place.

 Lita's scared eyes held a truth that was both scary and exciting– a promise of escape mixed with a

scary feeling that there were dangers she couldn't see in the dark.

 The steam from the washing machines seemed to wrap around them like a shroud, hiding the true nature of the

road ahead.