Chapter 6 - FREEDOM IN THE CELLAR
The sound of Mia’s broken voice shattered the heavy silence of the vault.
"Mommy!" Harper shrieked.
The little girl broke away from Dominic’s side and sprinted into the dim, cold stone cellar. Her tiny white shoes clattered over the uneven stone floor as she threw herself across the room, completely ignoring the dark shadows, the cold, and the terrifying surroundings.
"Harper! No, baby, wait—" Mia gasped, her raspy voice straining as she tried to lift her head, panic shooting through her weak, exhausted body at the sight of her daughter.
Harper reached the wooden wine rack and threw her tiny arms around Mia’s waist, burying her face into her mother’s blood-stained burgundy blouse. She sobbed uncontrollably, her small shoulders heaving as she clung to her mother with every ounce of strength in her tiny body.
"Mommy! Mommy! I found you! I told the Boss you were here!" Harper wept frantically.
Dominic stormed into the room right behind the child, his cream suit dark against the gloom of the cellar. The cold, calculating crime boss was gone; in his eyes burned a raw, lethal fury that threatened to destroy anyone responsible for this atrocity.
"Marcus! Cut those ties now!" Dominic roared.
Marcus rushed into the vault, pulling a razor-sharp tactical knife from his belt. He stepped up to the wine rack, carefully sliding the flat side of the blade between Mia’s swollen, bloody wrists and the thick plastic zip-ties. With two quick, expert flicks of his wrist, he severed the heavy plastic bindings.
The moment the restraints snapped, Mia’s weak legs gave out completely. She collapsed forward.
Dominic caught her before she could hit the hard stone floor.
He gathered her up in his massive arms, supporting her weight with practiced ease while keeping her elevated so Harper could continue to hold onto her. Mia was burning with a fever despite the freezing cold of the wine cellar, her breathing fast and shallow.
"Dominic..." Mia rasped, her weak hands clutching blindly at the lapels of his light cream suit, leaving smudges of grime and dirt on the expensive wool. Her eyes were wide with a mix of exhaustion and profound relief. "Dominic... you came... they... they locked me down here..."
"Shh. Don't speak," Dominic said softly, his deep voice thick with emotion as he adjusted his grip to support her back. "I've got you, Mia. You're safe now. Harper is safe. I'm taking you upstairs."
"Water..." Mia gasped, her throat clicking as she tried to swallow. "Three days... no water..."
"Daniel! Get a medical kit and fresh water down here now! Call Dr. Harrison and tell him to get to the estate immediately!" Dominic barked over his shoulder.
"On it, Boss!" Daniel called back, pulling out his phone as he backed out toward the doorway.
Dominic knelt on the cold cellar floor, cradling Mia against his chest while little Harper pressed herself against her mother's side, kissing Mia’s bruised cheek over and over again, just as her mother had always done for her.
"I missed you, Mommy," Harper sobbed quietly against Mia’s neck. "I knew you didn't go away. I knew you didn't leave without kissing me."
Mia pressed her weak, trembling face into her daughter's light brown hair, tears cutting clean streaks through the dust and dried blood on her cheeks. "I'm sorry, baby... I'm so sorry... Mommy never wanted to leave you..."
Dominic held the mother and daughter close, his frame acting as a protective barrier against the cold stone cellar. But as he cradled his trusted household manager, his sharp mind was already reconstructing the timeline.
Mia had been locked in this dark, freezing vault for three full days without food or water. She had been left here to die slowly of dehydration—or to be quietly eliminated once the commotion over her absence had died down and a cover story had been firmly established.
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And the only people who had access to this wing, the authority to order Claire to secure the basement, and the power to control the security logs of the Vale Estate were standing right outside the door.
Dominic slowly lifted his head, his cold, icy eyes scanning the interior of the vault before settling on the open steel doorway.
