Chapter 6 - THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
The gunshot shattered the tense standoff. But it didn’t come from Vanessa’s revolver. Carlo fired from the doorway of the jet. The bullet caught Vanessa in the shoulder. She spun backward, crying out as she hit the wet tarmac, her silver gun clattering away. In the chaos, Carlo kicked the jet’s heavy door shut, trapping me inside with him. “Take off! Now!” Carlo screamed at the terrified pilot sitting in the cockpit.
The jet lurched forward. I was thrown to the cabin floor, my shoulder hitting the mahogany paneling hard. But we didn't go far. Luca’s armored SUV was still wedged against the nose gear. The jet engines roared, tearing metal, but the plane couldn’t break free. Cursing violently, Carlo grabbed me by the hair, hauling me to my feet. He yanked open the emergency exit over the wing. “Move!” he barked, pushing me out into the rain. We slid down the slick wing, hitting the ground hard. Sirens were beginning to wail in the distance—the local police, or Luca’s reinforcements, I didn't know. Carlo dragged me toward the thick line of pine trees bordering the airstrip.
We ran for what felt like miles in the dark, the freezing mud sucking at my shoes. My lungs burned, but every time I stumbled, Carlo jammed the gun into my spine. Eventually, we broke through the trees into a small clearing. A dilapidated hunting cabin sat in the shadows. Carlo kicked the rotten door open and shoved me inside. He threw me into a wooden chair and pulled a length of rough rope from a shelf, binding my wrists tightly behind my back.
Carlo began pacing the small, dusty room, pulling a burner phone from his heavy wool coat. He was dialing furiously, trying to secure an extraction. I sat in the dark, shivering violently. Answer One, Open Two. I knew Carlo was the mastermind. But Vanessa’s scream at the airstrip replayed in my mind. You promised nobody would get hurt. If Carlo was pulling the strings, how much of the family’s suffering was his doing? “You poisoned her, didn’t you?” I whispered, my voice hoarse. Carlo stopped pacing. He looked at me, a cruel smirk twisting his scarred face. “Teresa?” he chuckled. “Yeah. I did. Old bat was getting too suspicious of the money I was skimming from the construction contracts. A little digitalis in her nightly tea. Supposed to look like a massive stroke. Kept her quiet for eighteen months.”
Bile rose in my throat. He had trapped a vibrant, loving woman in her own failing body just to hide his theft. “And Luca’s wife?” I asked. Carlo’s smile faded into something much darker. “Vanessa was right about one thing. It wasn’t an accident. But Luca didn’t order the hit on the brakes. I did. She found the skimming ledgers first.” He walked over and tossed his heavy wool coat onto a dusty cot in the corner. He leaned close to my face. “You should have just kept your mouth shut and cleaned the floors, Hannah. Now, you’re going to die in the woods.”
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He turned his back to me to look out the dirty window, watching for headlights. I closed my eyes, forcing myself to breathe. I was a maid. I spent ten hours a day cleaning up after powerful, arrogant people. I knew how to be invisible. But I also knew how to be resourceful. I felt the rough rope biting into my wrists. I felt the wooden slats of the chair back. There was a loose, rusty nail protruding from the wood near my thumb. I began to saw the rope against the rusted iron, ignoring the pain as it tore into my skin. I wasn't going to die here.
Suddenly, the front door of the cabin exploded inward in a shower of splintered wood. Luca burst through the frame, his face smeared with rain and mud, his gun raised. But Carlo was a trained killer. He reacted instantly, spinning around and firing blindly. Luca dove to the floor, rolling behind an overturned table. Before Luca could return fire, Carlo lunged across the room, grabbing me by the throat and pulling me up like a human shield. He pressed his gun hard against my temple. “Drop it, Luca!” Carlo roared. “Drop the gun, or the maid’s brains paint the wall!”
