Chapter 13 - The Black Waters
The tunnel was damp, cold, and reeked of sea salt. Clara scrambled down the metal rungs of the ladder, ignoring the blinding spikes of pain tearing across her scarred back. Gunfire echoed from the house above—dull, rhythmic thuds that vibrated through the stone foundation.
She reached the bottom of the ladder, her boots splashing into freezing ankle-deep seawater. A long, cavernous passage carved into natural bedrock stretched toward a sliver of stormy moonlight. At the end of the dock was a sleek, black offshore speedboat, rocking violently against the crashing waves of the incoming tide.
Clara stumbled down the wooden planks, clutching the ruined journal inside her soaked jacket. She had nearly reached the boat's mooring when a familiar figure stepped out from behind a stack of shipping crates near the vessel's stern.
The moonlight caught the pale, aristocratic face of Julian Vanderbilt.
He wasn't wearing his pristine tuxedo anymore. He was drenched in rain, wearing a dark coat, holding a heavy iron wrench in his right hand. He was shivering, his face streaked with tears and rain.
"Julian?" Clara froze on the slippery boards. "How did you know about this dock?"
"Grandfather told me," Julian choked out, his voice cracking with unbearable guilt. "He told me this was Christian’s private extraction route. He gave me a tracking signal to the safehouse. He said... he said if I brought you back myself, he wouldn't send me to prison."
Clara stared at the man she had loved for three years. The man she had dreamed of building a life with. He looked pathetic, shivering like a child terrified of a parent's belt.
"You brought hitmen to kill me, Julian?" Clara asked, her voice dangerously calm over the roar of the surf.
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"No! I didn't know they would shoot to kill!" Julian cried, dropping the heavy wrench. It clattered loudly against the wet wood. "I came to save you, Clara! If you just come back, Grandfather said he will send us to Europe! We can start over! We can forget everything that happened in the cellar!"
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