Chapter 305 THE DOOR SAMUEL USED
Chapter 305 THE DOOR SAMUEL USED
Rex answers from somewhere behind him.
Amani looks at me.
"Stay between us."
I almost argue.
But the words die in my throat.
We enter the passage.
The hidden door closes behind us with a deep metallic sound.
I turn sharply.
Amani grabs the handle.
Locked.
Of course.
Ghost looks back.
"We've got another way out."
"Let's hope so," Rex mutters.
The tunnel stretches ahead.
Old stone walls.
Broken wiring.
Water dripping somewhere in the darkness.
The air smells damp.
Rotting.
Forgotten.
I take one step.
Then another.
Something inside me shifts.
A memory.
A hand closing around mine.
Small fingers.
No.
A larger hand.
Pulling me through darkness.
I stop.
"Zuri?"
Amani's voice sounds far away.
The tunnel disappears.
I'm younger.
My feet are slipping against wet stone.
Someone is pulling me.
Samuel.
I can't see his face clearly.
Only his back.
Only the tension in his shoulders.
"She's too young to remember this."
His voice is urgent.
Angry.
Another voice answers.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Close.
"She doesn't need to remember."
My heart begins pounding.
"She needs to survive."
I freeze.
I know that voice.
I know it.
But I can't—
"Zuri."
Amani's hand touches my shoulder.
The memory shatters.
I gasp.
I'm back in the tunnel.
Everyone is looking at me.
Marco's face has gone pale.
"What did you remember?"
I don't answer immediately.
Because I can still hear the voice.
She needs to survive.
"Samuel."
Marco steps closer.
"What about him?"
"He was here."
Marco freezes.
"He was pulling me through this tunnel."
Amani looks around.
"And someone else?"
I nod.
"Samuel said I was too young to remember."
Marco's expression changes.
"What did the other person say?"
My stomach twists.
I repeat it.
"She doesn't need to remember. She needs to survive."
Marco immediately turns toward the entrance.
"We're going back."
I stare at him.
"What?"
"We're leaving."
"No."
"Zuri."
I step toward him.
"No."
His jaw tightens.
"This isn't safe."
"None of this is safe."
"I know this place."
"Exactly."
His eyes flash.
"Then listen to me."
For years, I would have.
I would have listened because Marco was older.
Because he was family.
Because he told me he knew better.
Not anymore.
"You don't get to decide what I can survive anymore."
The words leave me before I can soften them.
Marco goes still.
Amani doesn't speak.
Ghost and Rex exchange a glance.
Marco looks at me for a long moment.
Then his shoulders drop.
"Fine."
I don't thank him.
We keep walking.
The tunnel narrows.
The walls are damaged in places.
Parts of the ceiling have collapsed.
We have to step over broken stone.
Then Ghost stops.
"Blood."
Everyone freezes.
Ghost crouches near the wall.
Dark stains cover the ground.
Fresh enough to shine.
But there is no body.
No injured person.
Nothing.
Amani scans the tunnel.
"Where's the shooter?"
Ghost examines the wall.
Then the ground.
His expression changes.
"What?"
Ghost points to the stone.
"The shot came from here."
Rex looks toward the passage.
"At who?"
Ghost shakes his head.
"Nobody."
I stare at him.
"What do you mean?"
"The angle is wrong."
Ghost points again.
"The shooter wasn't aiming at us."
A cold feeling crawls down my spine.
"Then why fire?"
Ghost looks toward the tunnel ahead.
"To make us move."
Silence.
Everything suddenly becomes clear.
The attack on the station.
The gunfire.
The hidden door.
The footsteps.
The shot.
None of it was meant to kill us.
At least not immediately.
Someone wanted us underground.
Someone wanted us to find this tunnel.
Someone wanted me here.
My eyes move to Marco.
He looks terrified.
Not of being attacked.
Of what we're going to find.
Amani notices.
"What aren't you telling us?"
Marco stays silent.
I look at him.
And this time, I don't ask.
I wait.
The silence stretches.
Five seconds.
Ten.
Twenty.
Marco's breathing changes.
Finally—
"Samuel wasn't alone that night."
My heart stops.
I take a step toward him.
"What?"
Marco looks down the tunnel.
"He came here with someone."
"Who?"
"Someone your mother trusted."
My pulse pounds.
"Why?"
"To move you through the second route."
I stare at him.
"Samuel was supposed to take me."
"Yes."
"And someone else was with him."
"Yes."
"What happened?"
Marco closes his eyes.
"Something went wrong."
My stomach drops.
"Gunmen found the station."
Ghost swears quietly.
Marco continues.
"Samuel told me to take you and run."
I stare at him.
"You left him?"
His eyes open.
"He told me to."
"And you believed him?"
My voice breaks.
Marco looks at me.
For the first time, I don't see the man who spent years hiding things from me.
I see something else.
A boy.
Young.
Terrified.
"I was sixteen."
The words hit me.
I go silent.
Sixteen.
He was sixteen.
Still a child.
Just like me.
The anger doesn't disappear.
But something cracks beneath it.
He wasn't the powerful man I remember.
He wasn't the brother I expected to save me.
That night, he had been a child in the middle of a war.
Still...
"You never told me."
Marco looks down.
"No."
I swallow.
"Who was with Samuel?"
Marco goes still.
I feel the answer coming before he speaks.
He doesn't.
"No."
My anger rises again.
"Marco."
"The name could destroy everything you think you know."
Amani steps closer.
"Connected to the Iron Kings?"
Marco's eyes move toward him.
That is all Amani needs.
Rex curses under his breath.
Ghost's grip tightens on his weapon.
My heart pounds.
Someone connected to Amani.
To his club.
To his life.
A voice echoes inside my head.
She doesn't need to remember. She needs to survive.
I look at Marco.
"Was that person here when Samuel disappeared?"
Marco stares at me.
Then he nods.
"Yes."
My throat goes dry.
"Did I know them?"
Marco says nothing.
That silence is an answer.
Amani moves closer to me.
I don't pull away.
But I can feel the tension between us now.
Another secret.
Another person.
Another piece of the past that somehow leads back to the life I have now.
I look toward the darkness.
"Keep moving."
Marco catches my arm.
"Zuri."
I pull free.
"We came here for the truth."
My eyes lock onto his.
"We're not leaving because you're afraid of it."
The tunnel ends at a small room.
The door is half open.
Rex pushes it wider.
Dust rolls across the floor.
An old chair sits in the center.
Broken.
One leg missing.
A damaged radio rests against the wall.
And Silver Wolf symbols cover the stone.
Dozens of them.
Routes.
Marks.
Codes.
But one symbol is different.
I move toward it.
Ghost notices.
"What?"
I point.
"That one."
A wolf symbol has been carved deeper than the others.
The stone around it looks newer.
I press my fingers against the wall.
Nothing happens.
I push.
The stone shifts.
A small compartment opens.
Inside is a folded piece of paper.
My heart begins pounding.
I know the handwriting before I unfold it.
My mother's.
My hands shake.
I read.
> If you found this, then Marco has finally brought you back.
I stop breathing.
Slowly, I look at Marco.
He looks destroyed.
I continue.
> Don't punish him for the choice I made him carry.
My fingers tighten around the paper.
My mother knew.
She knew Marco would survive.
She knew one day he would bring me back.
But I still don't know what choice she forced him to make.
Then I see the final line.
> The truth about Samuel is not the truth Marco is afraid to tell you.
The room goes silent.
I lower the note.
Marco won't look at me.
My voice comes out barely above a whisper.
"What are you afraid to tell me?"
His face crumples.
Amani watches him carefully.
Ghost and Rex remain silent.
Marco finally whispers—
"That I wasn't supposed to lose you that night."
My breath catches.
"What does that mean?"
Marco looks toward the darkness behind us.
His mouth opens.
The radio suddenly crackles.
Everyone freezes.
The mysterious voice returns.
"Tell her, Marco."
Marco closes his eyes.
The voice continues.
"Tell your sister who you handed her to."
My entire body goes cold.
I stare at Marco.
"Who?"
He opens his eyes.
But he doesn't answer.
A sound comes from deeper inside the tunnel.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Amani raises his weapon.
Ghost moves to the side.
Rex steps in front of the doorway.
Then a man's voice comes from the darkness.
Close.
Alive.
Impossible.
"He handed her to me."
My heart stops.
I turn toward the passage.
A figure steps forward.
I can't see his face.
The shadows hide him.
But Marco can.
His entire body goes still.
His lips part.
And his voice breaks.
"Samuel."