Chapter 2

The corridor outside was silent. I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to keep warm.

Only after a long while did I realize I was unable to stand. The cold had stiffened my legs completely, and my fingers no longer obeyed me.

I counted to one hundred, then back again. On the third round, I noticed a sound outside. The sharp click of high heels echoed along the corridor. They stopped just outside, near the power room. Then came a soft click, like a switch being flipped.

"Who's out there?" I shouted with everything I had left. "Let me out. Please."

There was no answer. The heels clicked again, fading gradually until the corridor fell silent once more.

And suddenly, I remembered that sound.

Benedetta loved wearing heels. Whenever she stood in front of me to provoke me, the sharp click of her heels rang like applause for her cruelty.

I lay back on the floor and started to laugh. I laughed until tears streamed down my face, freezing into ice against my skin.

There was no signal in the cold vault. My phone was useless.

I reached for my neck. The diamond necklace Carlo had given me for my birthday was still there. Then I touched my fingers. The engagement ring was still there. It was the Vesta family's heirloom sapphire, which he had slipped onto my finger himself three months ago.

"You will be the lady of the Vesta family," he had said inside the chapel.

Sunlight filtered through the stained glass, casting colorful patterns across his face. "I swear I will protect you with my life."

His vow still echoed in my ears, yet he was gone.

A strange, false warmth spread through my body. Hallucinations began to take shape.

"Margherita," Carlo said, smiling at me in the illusion.

"Carlo," I murmured. "I'm so cold."

He only smiled and said nothing.

The only real sound was the roar of the cooling system.

With shaking hands, I pulled out my phone and tried to send Carlo a message. Even if it never went through, there were so many things I needed to say.

Our chat window still showed the messages I had sent him hours earlier.

"Carlo, the cooling system started running again, and the temperature keeps dropping. Can you let me out? I was wrong. No matter what you believe I did, I accept it. My fingers are numb. The temperature has to be below zero.

"Carlo, where are you? Please save me. I think I might die here, but I love you. I will always love you."

My consciousness began to fade. The screen blurred before my eyes, and I could only struggle to type one last message.

"Carlo, I know this isn't your fault. I don't blame you. I really don't. I'm just so cold."

After typing the final word, I closed my eyes and let the darkness take everything.

In the instant before death, I heard the high heels return.

The clicking ceased at the door, then a woman's whisper came through. Her voice was light, but unmistakably clear.

"Goodbye, Margherita."

It was Benedetta. It was really her.

I wanted to respond, to scream, to curse her, but my body was already dead. No sound came out.

Only my consciousness remained, drifting in the frozen air as it watched the curled body in the corner.

The skin of my corpse was darkened purple, with a thin layer of frost covering my lashes, and my hand curled tightly as though clutching something valuable.

I knew what was in that hand. It no longer mattered.

Outside the iron door, the sound of high heels faded away once more.

At 25, I died there.