Page 51 of Bound By Blood and Lies

Felix walks straight to the door and unlocks it. The hallway beyond is brightly lit. Black and white marble stretches across the floor between tall columns that hold up the high ceiling above. Lantern lights hang from long chains and cast warm pools of light down onto the stone.

“Father?” Felix calls and his voice echoes down the corridor.

Atlas closes the door behind us as Felix moves through the house. His strides lengthening as he heads straight for the office. The rest of us fall in behind him and the tension begins to coil tighter. My pulse picks up, the steady thud of it beating hard against my ribs as the anticipation settles into my chest. I’ve wanted this moment since the night Fae told me what he did to her. Back then the anger had nowhere to go but forward.

Now I’m standing inside his house with a clear shot at the man who thought he could control her life forever, and for the first time since this whole nightmare started, I don’t have to wonder whether I’m crossing a line to get to him. Felix pushes the heavy door of his office open. I lick my lips in anticipation but come up short when I see it’s empty. The desk lamp is still on, casting a soft pool of light across the polished wood surface, but the chair behind it sits slightly crooked. Felix moves around the desk quickly before turning back to us.

“Jeremy said he was expecting visitors. Do you think he’s in the crypt?” His eyes flick briefly toward the door.

“It’s worth looking,” Victor replies.

None of us argue. We turn almost in unison and head back out into the hall. The place feels eerily quiet as our footsteps echo and we cut through the long corridors toward the opposite side of the house.

“Father?” Felix calls in a louder voice.

Felix doesn’t stop moving. He leads us straight to the staircase tucked at the far end of the corridor and starts jogging down. The air shifts immediately as we descend, the warmth of the house gives way to the colder breath of stone beneath it and although the lights from the hallway above fade behind us they are quickly replaced by the dim glow of the lanterns lining the crypt.

What strikes me most is the silence.

Felix stops in the centre and drags a hand back through his hair. The frustration is written clearly across his face as his eyes sweep the room again like the man might somehow appear if he just looks hard enough. I force myself to draw a slow breath, trying to keep the rhythm steady in my chest, but it’s getting harder. I cannot face another dead end. Not after coming this close. Not when every step of this hunt has felt like we’re chasing something that keeps slipping through our fingertips. The thought that someone might be working against us creeps into the back of my mind and refuses to leave. My teeth press together hard enough that a sharp metallic taste floods my mouth, and I let out a hiss as pain shoots through my tongue.

“Father!”

Felix turns abruptly and heads back upstairs, taking the steps two at a time. The sudden burst of movement sends a jolt through the room and I follow without thinking, my boots hitting the stone behind him as we climb back toward the house above. I can hear the others moving with us, the thud of footsteps close behind as we surge out of the stairwell and back into the hallway.

Felix doesn’t slow down. He cuts straight across the house, moving with a kind of desperate focus, like he’s chasing a thought that’s only just begun to form. By the time we reach the landing, he’s already halfway down the corridor, heading directly for the master bedroom.

The door is open.

He stops just inside it.

Something in the way his shoulders stiffen makes my stomach sink before I even step into the room. When I do, I see the wardrobe doors standing wide open. Clothes are scattered across the floor like someone emptied the rails in a hurry. The safe behind the wardrobe panel hangs open.

Felix stares at it.

“He ran,” Felix exhales the words under his breath as he steps further into the room.

I shake my head immediately.

“No,” I say at the exact same time someone behind me mutters a quiet curse.

“No!” I snap, turning toward Felix. “How could he have known?”

Felix lets out a humourless scoff and gestures toward the far wall. I follow the motion and that’s when I see the safe is empty. A cold ripple runs straight down my spine.

“He knew,” Felix says quietly. “That safe was full of cash and his passport.” His gaze flicks back toward me. “It’s all gone.”

“No,” I say softer this time.

I spin around as fear starts to creep in, crawling its way into the back of my mind before I can stop it. It feels too familiar. Too close to the same sick realisation we had with Fisher when every lead started collapsing in on itself. Felix storms past me and into the walk-in wardrobe, throwing the doors wide as he scans the shelves and rails.

“There’s not even any suitcases left in here,” he snaps. “Damn it, Roman. Wake up.” He turns back toward me with frustration burning in his expression. “He knew.”

“Someone warned him,” Victor mutters from behind me.

I take in a deep breath because they’re right. Ackworth didn’t leave by accident. He left because he knew we were coming. I lift my gaze from the open safe to the men standing in the room with me.

Atlas. Riggs. Victor. Felix.