(Ruby's POV)
Liam's words are still ringing in my ears when I burst through the west wing door.
He's coming tonight. He's going to burn it all down.
Nicholas is at his desk, staring at the security monitors. He looks up when I stumble in, and his face goes pale. "Ruby? What's wrong?"
"Kai knows." I gasp, my chest heaving. "Liam told me. He knows about the tunnel. He knows about the cave. He knows about the safe house in Edinburgh. He's coming tonight. He's bringing his men."
Nicholas is on his feet in an instant. His hands find my shoulders, steadying me. "Slow down. Tell me everything."
I tell him. Every word Liam said. Every threat Kai made. Every secret he uncovered.
Nicholas's jaw tightens. His eyes go dark. "We're out of time."
"I know."
He turns to the monitors, pulling up the conservatory feed. It's empty. Quiet. But for how long?
"Your mother's note," he says. "The one in the library. The true warmth lies beneath. Follow the roots."
I nod, my heart pounding. "You think she meant something under the conservatory?"
"She meant something under the whole house." He grabs a flashlight from his desk, shoves it into my hand. "Come on. We don't have much time."
We move through the dark corridors, silent as shadows. The house is asleep, but I can feel it watching. The walls have ears. Kai's ears.
The conservatory is cold and still. The dying orchids droop on their benches, their petals brown and withered. I think of all the hours I spent here, talking to them, trying to save them. It feels like a lifetime ago.
Nicholas goes straight to the far corner, where the flagstones are different. Older. Worn smooth by centuries of footsteps. He kneels, running his fingers over the cracks.
"Help me," he says.
I drop beside him, and together we pry at the stones. They're heavy, thick, but they shift. Beneath them is not dirt. It's a metal hatch, rusted and ancient, with a handle shaped like a ring.
Nicholas grabs the ring and pulls. The hatch groans, then opens.
Cold air rushes up from below. It smells like earth and salt and something else. Something metallic.
"A root cellar," Nicholas says. "From the old days. Before the manor was rebuilt."
I peer into the darkness. Stone steps disappear into blackness. "Your mother's note. The true warmth lies beneath. This has to be it."
He goes first, his flashlight cutting a path through the dark. I follow close behind, my hand on his back. The steps are narrow, slippery, worn by time.
We reach the bottom. The cellar is small, maybe ten feet wide, with walls of rough stone. Shelves line the walls, empty now, covered in dust and cobwebs. But at the far end, there's something wrong. A section of wall that doesn't match the rest.
Nicholas touches it. The stone shifts.
"False wall," he whispers.
We push together. The stone grinds against stone, and then it swings open, revealing a narrow passage. A tunnel. Carved into the cliff.
My breath catches. "This is what she meant. Follow the roots."
We step into the tunnel. It's narrow, just wide enough for one person. The walls are damp, slick with moisture. The air is cold and still. Nicholas goes first, his flashlight beam bouncing off the stone.
We walk for what feels like forever. The tunnel slopes downward, deeper under the house. Deeper under the cliffs.
Then Nicholas stops.
"Look."
He shines the light at the wall. There, running alongside the old stone, are modern electrical cables. Thick, heavy, clearly new.
"A hidden power grid," I whisper. "Kai's been using this tunnel. For years."
Nicholas nods, his face grim. "This is how he's been running the facility on Skye. The research. The experiments. All of it connected to the manor."
We keep walking. The tunnel opens into a larger space. A cavern, natural, with a ceiling that disappears into darkness. And on the floor—
Footprints.
Fresh ones.
Not ours. Not Nicholas's.
Someone else has been here. Recently.
My blood runs cold. "Kai knows about this place too."
Nicholas grabs my hand, pulling me toward the far side of the cavern. "We need to move. Now."
We find another passage, narrower than the first, hidden behind a curtain of hanging roots. We squeeze through, our shoulders scraping the stone.
And then we see it.
A door. Steel. Modern. Sealed with a keypad and a biometric scanner.
"Kai's vault," Nicholas says. "The evidence. The research. It's all in there."
I touch the cold metal. "Can we get in?"
He shakes his head. "Not without the codes. Not without Alexander."
My heart sinks. We're so close. So close to the truth. So close to saving Mia. But the door won't open.
A sound echoes through the tunnel. Footsteps. Voices. Men.
Nicholas grabs me, pulling me back into the shadows. We press ourselves against the wall, barely breathing.
The footsteps grow louder. Voices, low and rough.
"—check the perimeter. Vaughn wants no surprises."
"—heard the girl's been snooping around. Probably already found the tunnel."
"—doesn't matter. Tonight, it all burns."
The voices fade. The footsteps retreat.
Nicholas exhales, his forehead dropping to mine. "We have to go. Now."
We run back through the tunnel, through the root cellar, through the conservatory. We burst into the main house, gasping, shaking.
The clock on the wall reads 11:47 PM.
Kai is coming.
And we're running out of time.