# Chapter 7: The Tunnel Beneath Saint Ormond
For one terrible second, Adrian could not move.
The blood on the silver moon pendant seemed brighter than everything else on the dead monitor.
Rose’s pendant.
Oliver’s memory.
The one object that had survived every lie.
Now it lay on a concrete floor beneath Saint Ormond, covered in blood.
Dr. Hayes moved first.
“We need to go.”
His voice snapped Adrian out of the shock.
Sloane turned toward the corridor.
“The eastern maintenance shaft is sealed.”
“Then open it,” Adrian said.
“I can’t.”
Adrian grabbed the front of his white coat.
“You built this place.”
“I rebuilt parts of it.”
Sloane’s voice shook for the first time.
“But the lower tunnels were controlled by Blackwood security.”
Adrian’s grip tightened.
“My mother’s security?”
Sloane looked away.
“Your father’s, originally.”
The answer landed strangely.
Charles had said there was an old railway tunnel beneath the facility.
He knew its route.
He knew the maintenance levels.
He knew exactly how long Adrian had to reach the warehouse.
That meant his father had not simply disappeared eight years ago.
He had been watching.
Planning.
Waiting.
Adrian released Sloane.
“Show me the fastest way.”
Sloane crossed to a steel cabinet and entered a code.
Inside were old architectural plans, folded and yellowing at the edges.
He spread them across the console.
“Saint Ormond was built over a nineteenth-century transport line.”
“It connected the original hospital to a private freight yard.”
“The east shaft begins below Level Four.”
Vivienne leaned over the plans.
“There is no Level Four on the elevator.”
Sloane pointed to a service stairwell.
“It was removed from the public system.”
Celeste stared at the map.
“How far to the warehouse?”
“On foot?”
Sloane calculated quickly.
“Seven hundred yards.”
Adrian looked at his watch.
Six minutes remained.
He turned toward the guards.
“You two stay with Vivienne and Celeste.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
“This is not a discussion.”
“She knows the tunnel,” Vivienne said.
Everyone turned.
Celeste’s face tightened.
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
“You’ve been below Level Four.”
Celeste swallowed.
“Once.”
“You said you never entered the clinic.”
“I lied about that too.”
Vivienne let out a bitter laugh.
“Of course you did.”
Celeste ignored her.
“Lady Beatrice sent me down there two years ago.”
“She wanted me to observe one of Oliver’s sessions.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“And you stood there while they drugged him.”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“I stood behind a glass wall.”
“He was crying.”
“He kept asking for someone named Rosie.”
Rose.
Not clearly.
Not completely.
But Oliver had remembered.
Adrian looked away.
He could not afford to lose control now.
“Which route?”
Celeste pointed to a narrow passage on the plans.
“There is a second stairwell behind the surgical wing.”
“It leads closer to the railway tunnel.”
Sloane frowned.
“That route collapsed years ago.”
“No.”
Celeste looked at him.
“Lady Beatrice had it reopened.”
“For private transfers.”
Sloane’s face went cold.
“You knew more about my facility than I did.”
Celeste laughed without humor.
“It stopped being yours a long time ago.”
Another alarm echoed through the hall.
Then came a distant explosion.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Sloane folded the plans.
“They are sealing exits.”
Adrian pulled out his phone.
No signal.
He turned to Dr. Hayes.
“Stay with them.”
“No.”
The doctor grabbed his medical bag.
“If Oliver has been sedated again, you will need me.”
Adrian started to object.
Hayes held his ground.
“You can carry him.”
“I can keep him alive.”
Adrian nodded once.
They moved.
Sloane led them through the steel doors and into a narrow corridor lined with dark observation rooms.
Red emergency lights pulsed over the glass.
Inside one room stood a child-sized chair bolted to the floor.
Leather restraints hung from its arms.
Adrian slowed.
He imagined Oliver sitting there.
Afraid.
Calling for a mother everyone insisted was dead.
Celeste saw his face.
“I never touched him.”
Adrian did not look at her.
“You watched.”
Her answer came quietly.
“Yes.”
“That was enough.”
They continued.
A second explosion shook the building.
The lights flickered.
Somewhere far above, gunfire erupted.
Dr. Hayes glanced back.
“Police may have reached the property.”
“Or Mercer’s men reached the surface team,” Sloane said.
Vivienne looked at him.
“How many mercenaries?”
“I don’t know.”
“You worked with them.”
“I worked with one liaison.”
“Name?”
Sloane hesitated.
Adrian stopped.
“Name.”
“Gideon Mercer.”
Celeste went pale.
Adrian noticed.
“You know him.”
She shook her head too quickly.
Vivienne stared at her.
“Celeste.”
“He visited the estate,” she whispered.
“When?”
“Many times.”
“Lady Beatrice introduced him as a risk consultant.”
Adrian remembered the man.
Tall.
Quiet.
Always dressed in dark suits.
He had attended board meetings without speaking.
Adrian had assumed he represented one of the family’s insurers.
Now he remembered something else.
Gideon had been present the night Charles died.
At least, the night everyone had been told Charles died.
The group reached the surgical wing.
The passage beyond it was blocked by a steel security door.
Celeste moved to the keypad.
“What is the code?” Adrian asked.
She entered six digits.
The door unlocked.
Vivienne stared at her sister.
“You remembered it.”
Celeste did not answer.
The door opened into darkness.
A stale draft carried the smell of wet stone and machine oil.
Sloane turned on a flashlight.
Concrete stairs descended steeply.
No railing.
No cameras.
Adrian went first.
The walls narrowed around them.
Each footstep echoed.
At the bottom, the passage split in two.
Celeste pointed left.
“The main tunnel.”
Sloane raised his light.
A fresh boot print marked the dust.
Then another.
Adrian crouched.
“They came through here.”
Dr. Hayes pointed to the wall.
A dark smear streaked the concrete.
Blood.
Fresh.
Adrian touched it with two fingers.
Still warm.
Vivienne whispered,
“Whose is it?”
No one answered.
They followed the trail.
The tunnel widened.
Old iron tracks ran beneath broken gravel.
Rusting maintenance lamps hung overhead.
Far ahead, a white light flashed three times.
Then vanished.
Sloane stopped.
“That is a signal.”
Adrian looked at him.
“To whom?”
Before he could answer, a shot struck the wall beside them.
Stone fragments exploded across the passage.
“Down!”
Adrian shoved Celeste against the ground.
The guards returned fire.
Muzzle flashes flickered at the far end of the tunnel.
Two dark figures moved behind a concrete support.
Dr. Hayes dragged Vivienne toward the wall.
Sloane crouched behind an old equipment cart.
Another bullet struck the metal frame.
Adrian’s guard shouted,
“Two ahead!”
A third shot came from behind them.
The second guard spun.
A black-clad man emerged from the stairwell entrance.
The guard fired first.
The man dropped behind the corner.
“We’re trapped,” Vivienne said.
Adrian looked at the old tracks.
A maintenance trolley rested several yards away.
Large enough to shield them.
He pointed.
“Move on my signal.”
The nearest guard fired toward the men ahead.
“Now!”
They ran.
Celeste stumbled on her gown.
Adrian caught her arm and pulled her behind the trolley.
Dr. Hayes and Vivienne followed.
Sloane arrived last.
A bullet tore through his coat sleeve.
He cried out and dropped.
Hayes grabbed him.
“Are you hit?”
“Grazed.”
The guard fired again.
“We can’t stay here.”
Adrian looked down the tunnel.
A side door stood ten yards ahead.
The old sign above it read:
FREIGHT CONTROL.
Celeste saw it.
“That room connects to the loading platform.”
“The warehouse is beyond it.”
Adrian checked his watch.
Two minutes.
He looked at the guard.
“Cover us.”
The guard nodded.
Adrian pulled Celeste upright.
“You’re coming with me.”
Vivienne grabbed her sister’s hand.
“No.”
Celeste looked at her.
For one second, the arrogance disappeared.
What remained was fear.
And guilt.
“I have to.”
“Why?”
Celeste looked toward Adrian.
“Because Gideon will open the freight door for me.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You said you barely knew him.”
“I lied.”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
Celeste continued before anyone could interrupt.
“He was the one who recruited me.”
Adrian’s voice became dangerously calm.
“For my mother?”
“At first.”
“What does that mean?”
Celeste’s lips trembled.
“Lady Beatrice wanted a wife she could control.”
“Gideon wanted access to the estate.”
“And you?”
“I wanted the life they offered.”
Adrian stared at her.
Every answer made the betrayal larger.
“You helped them enter my family.”
“Yes.”
“You helped them take Oliver.”
“No.”
Celeste shook her head violently.
“I helped them watch you.”
“I helped them replace staff.”
“I helped them isolate you.”
“But I did not know Rose was alive until after the first year.”
“You still stayed.”
“I thought if I left, they would kill me.”
Vivienne stepped closer.
“So you let them destroy everyone else.”
Celeste’s face broke.
“Yes.”
The word came out as a sob.
Adrian looked at the freight-control door.
“You think Gideon will trust you?”
Celeste wiped her face.
“No.”
“But he may hesitate.”
“That is all we need.”
Another burst of gunfire struck the trolley.
The guard shouted,
“Go!”
Adrian and Celeste ran toward the side door.
Sloane followed despite Hayes’s attempt to stop him.
Vivienne and Dr. Hayes remained behind with one guard.
Adrian reached the keypad.
Locked.
Celeste entered the code.
Red light.
She tried again.
Red.
“They changed it.”
Sloane pushed her aside.
“There is a mechanical release.”
He opened a rusted panel and pulled a lever.
The door groaned upward.
A bullet struck him in the back.
Sloane fell forward.
Dr. Hayes shouted from behind the trolley.
Adrian dragged Sloane through the opening.
Celeste crawled under after them.
The door stopped halfway.
Sloane gasped.
Blood spread across his white coat.
Adrian pressed a hand to the wound.
“Hayes!”
“I can’t reach you!”
Gunfire filled the tunnel.
Sloane gripped Adrian’s wrist.
“Leave me.”
“You know the building.”
“I know enough to tell you this.”
His breath rattled.
“The warehouse is not where they keep the children.”
Adrian stared at him.
“What?”
Sloane coughed.
“The railway chamber is a transfer point.”
“The real treatment wing is beneath the river.”
Celeste shook her head.
“There is nothing beneath the river.”
Sloane looked at her.
“That is what Beatrice wanted you to believe.”
Adrian’s pulse hammered.
“Where is Oliver?”
Sloane pointed through the freight room.
“Follow the cold air.”
“The tunnel to the river is refrigerated.”
“Why?”
“For organ transport.”
Celeste recoiled.
Adrian’s expression changed.
Sloane saw it.
“No.”
“Not Oliver.”
“Not yet.”
The words were not reassurance.
They were a warning.
A metal door slammed somewhere ahead.
Then came Rose’s scream.
“Adrian!”
He surged to his feet.
Celeste followed.
They crossed the freight-control room and entered a wide loading chamber.
The white ambulance stood in the center.
Its rear doors were open.
Blood marked the floor.
The moon pendant lay beside one wheel.
Adrian picked it up.
The blood was fresh.
But there was no body.
No Charles.
No Rose.
No Oliver.
Only a trail of red drops leading toward a refrigerated tunnel at the far end.
A man stepped from behind the ambulance.
Tall.
Black tactical clothing.
No mask.
Gideon Mercer.
He held a pistol in one hand.
In the other, he held Oliver’s blue blanket.
Adrian went still.
Gideon smiled.
“You were always slower than your father.”
“Where is my son?”
“Safe enough.”
Adrian raised the pendant.
“Whose blood is this?”
Gideon glanced at it.
“Charles’s.”
Celeste stepped forward.
“Where is he?”
Gideon looked at her.
His smile vanished.
“You were told to stay at the house.”
“I changed my mind.”
“No.”
He lifted the pistol toward her.
“You lost your nerve.”
Adrian moved between them.
Gideon laughed softly.
“Still protecting the woman who helped steal your child?”
“I’m not protecting her.”
“I’m keeping her alive long enough to testify.”
Celeste flinched.
Gideon looked almost amused.
“There will be no trial.”
Police sirens echoed faintly above them.
Gideon’s eyes shifted toward the ceiling.
Then back.
“You brought them faster than expected.”
“I didn’t bring anyone.”
“Then perhaps Daniel finally remembered who paid him.”
Adrian’s expression tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
Gideon smiled.
“Your security chief did not work for your father.”
“He worked for mine.”
A sound came from inside the refrigerated tunnel.
Metal wheels.
A gurney.
Rose appeared at the far end, struggling beside two armed men.
Oliver lay strapped to the gurney.
Charles was nowhere in sight.
Rose saw Adrian.
“Don’t let them take him below!”
Gideon fired into the ceiling.
The sound thundered through the chamber.
Rose screamed.
Adrian froze.
Gideon pointed the gun at Oliver.
“One more step.”
“And this story ends exactly where Beatrice intended.”
Celeste began moving slowly to the side.
Gideon noticed.
“Do not test me.”
She stopped.
Adrian looked at Oliver.
The child’s eyes were closed.
His chest moved weakly beneath the blue blanket.
Rose’s wrists were bound.
Blood covered one side of her dress.
Adrian could not tell whether it was hers.
“Let them go,” he said.
Gideon smiled.
“You still think this is about your family.”
“It was never about custody.”
“It was never about Celeste.”
“It was never even about the Blackwood name.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Then what?”
Gideon’s expression changed.
For the first time, something personal appeared in his eyes.
Hatred.
“Your father stole something from mine.”
“Thirty years ago.”
“He built your empire with it.”
“And tonight, I am taking back the only thing the Blackwoods ever truly valued.”
He looked at Oliver.
“The heir.”
Behind Gideon, the tunnel doors began closing.
Rose fought against the men holding her.
“Adrian!”
Adrian stepped forward.
Gideon aimed at Oliver.
Then Celeste moved.
She threw herself into Gideon’s arm.
The gun fired.
The bullet struck the gurney.
Oliver’s body jerked beneath the blanket.
Rose screamed.
Adrian lunged.
The chamber erupted into chaos.
Gideon struck Celeste across the face and threw her aside.
Adrian hit him with enough force to send both men crashing against the ambulance.
The pistol slid across the floor.
One of the armed men raised his weapon.
Rose kicked the back of his knee.
He stumbled.
The second man grabbed the gurney and pulled it toward the closing tunnel.
Adrian fought to reach Oliver.
Gideon locked an arm around his throat.
“You are too late.”
Adrian drove his elbow backward.
Gideon grunted but did not release him.
The refrigerated doors were nearly shut.
Rose squeezed through the narrowing gap beside the gurney.
“Oliver!”
Celeste crawled toward the fallen gun.
The first mercenary saw her.
He turned his weapon.
A shot rang out.
Celeste collapsed.
Adrian broke Gideon’s grip and drove him into the ambulance door.
The tunnel sealed with Rose and Oliver on the other side.
A heavy lock slammed into place.
Silence fell for half a second.
Then Adrian heard Oliver crying through the steel.
Weak.
Frightened.
Alive.
Adrian pressed both hands against the door.
“Oliver!”
The child’s voice came faintly through the metal.
“Daddy…”
Adrian’s eyes closed.
It was the first time Oliver had called him that all night.
Then another voice came through the speaker beside the door.
Lady Beatrice.
Calm.
Controlled.
Close.
“You should have listened to me, Adrian.”
He stared at the speaker.
His mother had not remained at the manor.
She was somewhere below them.
And then she said the words that turned every betrayal into something even darker.
May you like
“Your father was never Oliver’s target.”
“You were.”
