"Yes. I saw a trick like this years ago. Some pervert used it to trap young omegas. They’d lie down, and the bed would drop."
"Damn! That’s a huge bed. Whatever’s underneath would have to be massive. A tunnel? That kind of construction would cost a fortune."
"You have no idea what people are capable of, or how far they’ll go to follow their perversions," Ennio says flatly.
"Then maybe I should just test it. We’re clearly not going to find an obvious door leading down. Wherever it is, it’s hidden too well. I’d bet even the police didn’t find anything when they searched this house."
"Agreed. If there’s a real entrance, it won’t be easy to locate. Although I’m not done trying yet," he says with a crooked smile. Then he adds, "The question is whether the trapdoor activates automatically or with a switch."
"We’ll find out if we test this theory."
"Are you sure?" Ennio asks darkly, stepping back toward the window.
"Yes."
Then I sprint forward and throw myself onto the bed, landing right in the middle of it.
But nothing happens. I roll around on the bed a few times, but… it doesn’t give way.
I glance at Ennio, disappointed. "Damn. Maybe there’s something that triggers it? It probably wouldn’t be very smart to have a bed that collapses without warning. Any random guest could fall right through."
Ennio rubs his chin and looks around. "Stay there. I’ll check something."
He starts circling the room, step by step, moving carefully. It takes a while. I watch him, but my hope slowly fades. And then…
A quiet click.
A fraction of a second later, I realize it was the right call.
The bed drops, along with a solid section of the surrounding floor. Anyone on it, even with fast reflexes, would have no chance to grab the edges.
I fall.
My body picks up speed purely from gravity, sliding down something like a water park slide, except the walls are metal.
And the difference is that I am moving insanely fast. I estimate the drop is about sixty-five feet.
Then I land in the middle of complete darkness.
Ouch! I am bruised, but nothing seems broken. I curse under my breath. "Mannaggia. Non ci posso credere."(Damn it. I can’t believe it.)Under stress, Sicilian tends to surface, since it was the language spoken at home when I was a kid.
I immediately pull out my phone and light up my surroundings. It is a small, dark room, maybe sixteen by sixteen feet, completely enclosed.
There is nothing in it. A bare floor. Bare concrete walls.
I look up. Right. No going back that way. The slide is almost vertical at this point. There is no chance I could climb the slick metal walls of the tunnel I came through.
So, I turn toward a door. That is my only possible way out. Clearly, Tanner designed this room to trap only omegas. I doubt he ever caught an alpha down here, especially one as furious as I am right now.
I walk up to the door and start kicking it with everything I have, then even taking a running start and throwing my full weight into it.
Ten kicks later. Plaster falls. The surface grinds and cracks. Finally, the door rips free from its hinges.
A low growl escapes me as adrenaline floods my system, rage rumbling in my chest while I step through.
I find myself in a vast space. I sense it more than I see it, and I immediately know something is very wrong.
The air is thick with the stale stench of sweat, blood, bodily fluids, and dried semen.
