Chapter 200
KATYA POV
The response was imdiate and brutal. The tal hand ca up fast, faster than I could react.
Sothing sharp flashed and pain tore across my face.
Hot. Burning. Wet. I felt the impact more than the injury itself, my head snapping to the side as blood splattered warm against my cheek.
But I didn’t stop. I barely even felt it.
All I could think was run. I shoved forward again, sobbing, fighting like sothing feral, fingers raking, body twisting, refusing to be controlled.
My hands tangled in the mask once more, and this ti, It ca off.
The world seed to pause. Her face was inches from mine.
Adelasia.
The cold, sharp planes of her features. The green eyes I recognized instantly. The tal hand gleaming under the hallway lights.
Shit.
"HELP!" I scread, the sound ripping out of raw and desperate as I stumbled back. "HELP—PLEASE!"
My head whipped toward the end of the hallway.
Roo’s door. Closed. Dark. Unmoving.
"Help!" I cried, "Please—!" Nothing.
The door stayed stubbornly shut, solid and silent, like it had already decided not to open.
Was he... not coming? Was he choosing not to ? My chest caved in on itself as my vision blurred again, panic threatening to drown .
I staggered, half-turning and saw movent.
A door opening. Soone stepped out of the office down the hall, arms full, papers clutched against their chest.
Hope flared so violently it hurt.
"Mr Salvatore....." I gasped, the words tumbling out broken. The figure turned, stepping fully into the light.
It wasn’t Roo.
It was Marina.
Dressed in black, walking over to .
"I thought you knocked her out!" Marina snapped, irritation sharp in her voice as papers slipped from her grasp and scattered across the floor.
Adelasia finally spoke. "It wouldn’t have been more painful," she said flatly, like she was discussing a minor inconvenience instead of my life.
"What the fuck?" I breathed, disbelief and fury colliding so hard it made my head spin again.
I didn’t wait to hear another word.I turned and ran, bolting toward Roo’s door, lungs burning, blood warm on my cheek, fear screaming at to move faster.
Adelasia cursed behind .Her tal hand shot out, fingers catching my wrist with brutal precision, yanking back so hard my shoulder scread.
I twisted violently, adrenaline flooding my veins, and kicked back with everything I had.
My heel connected—not with flesh—but with tal. There was a sharp crack.
A sound that didn’t belong to a human body.
Adelasia scread.
A real painful and satisfying scream. The tal casing tore loose, clattering across the floor as she staggered back, clutching her dismantled arm.
I didn’t look back as I ran straight to Roo’s door, slamming my palm against it, fingers slippery, heart pounding so hard it hurt.
I grabbed the handle and twisted.
Locked. "No—no, no—" I whispered, panic clawing up my throat. I didn’t waste ti banging.
I turned and sprinted toward the elevator at the end of the hall, desperation driving forward. I smashed the button repeatedly, breath coming in sharp, broken gasps.
Nothing. I tried the doors. Locked. What the fuck? I sobbed, feeling trapped, the door leading to the stairs were locked too.
I looked from the locked elevator to the heavy, immovable stairwell door. My mind scread at . How? This was a Salvatore fortress.
These doors were ant to keep the world out, not trap inside with two monsters. Behind , the sound of tal scraping against the polished wood floor made the hair on my arms stand up.
"You little bitch," Adelasia hissed. I turned, my back pressed against the cold tal of the elevator doors.
Adelasia was standing a few feet away. She was cradling her left arm. Marina stood beside her, looking down at the scattered papers on the floor with a look of utter disgust, as if the ss I’d made was more offensive than the blood dripping down my face.
"How are we supposed to get her down to the garage if the systems are looped, Adelasia?" Marina snapped, crossing her arms.
She didn’t even look at . To her, I was already a corpse or a piece of luggage. "You said you had the override."
"Yes I have it, I don’t know why it’s fucking up now.," Adelasia spat, her voice tight with pain as she wipes out a phone.
She looked back at , before focusing on the screen. I scanned the surroundings, there’s no fucking way for to move, both the she devils were in front of .
All the rooms were locked but Marina just ca out from Roos office? that might not be locked, right?
"Shit, shit, shit," Adelasia cursed, pulling my attention back to her to see as her fingers flew over the screen of her phone, frantic.
"What is it?" Marina demanded sharply as Adelasia let out a harsh breath, eyes flicking to the elevator panel, then to the stairwell door, then finally down the hallway like she was suddenly seeing the estate for what it really was—a cage.
"We’re out of fucking ti," she hissed. "The entire estate is in total lockdown." My heart slamd against my ribs.
Marina froze. "What do you an, lockdown?"
"No exits," Adelasia snapped. "Garage sealed. Elevators locked. Stairwells locked. External gates shut. No override is responding."
"That’s not possible," Marina shot back. "You said you had it with you, everything was according to plan."
"Not this one." Adelasia snapped back as she looked up slowly, dread creeping into her expression.
"This level of lockdown can only be triggered by one person."
Marina’s face drained of color. "Roo."
"He shouldn’t even be back," Adelasia said, voice dropping. "And even if he was, he shouldn’t be able to know how to trigger this unless—"
She didn’t get to finish the thought. A soft ding echoed through the hallway.
The elevator doors slid open. I had been leaning against them, my legs shaking so badly they’d barely been holding up.
The sudden loss of support sent stumbling backward with a broken gasp, my body tipping into the open space.
Before I could hit the floor rough hands wrapped around my waist, my eyes snapped up to a half masked face.
Roo.
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