The Return of the Fallen Luna: Rise of the Heiress-Chapter 28 Hidden Exit

Nathan must have invited the media. And Maddison, knowing this, instead grew a new idea to torment Ashley, and since Nathan was already planning to humiliate her at tomorrow’s mating ceremony, Maddison wanted Ashley’s humiliation to be complete, so she planned to add this segment.

Ashley let out a sharp breath, her hands curling into fists. Even if Maddison had gone this far, she doubted Nathan would be angry. No... he would probably laugh, amused, maybe even impressed by her "creativity."

The thought alone made Ashley’s blood burn with rage.

"Was I really that fun to mess with?" Ashley whispered the question meant for Nathan, even if he wasn’t there to hear it. The thought that they would go this far twisted something bitter in her chest.

She forced it down. Now wasn’t the time to unravel.

Moving as quietly as she could, she made her way toward the back door, but it wouldn’t budge.

Locked.

Her bag wasn’t with her, either, along with anything she could’ve used to force it open. For a second, frustration clawed at her, sharp and suffocating.

Then it hit her.

The hidden room.

She had arranged it herself, a hidden exit, tucked away in case of a sudden rogue attack.

She had built the villa to be both beautiful and comfortable, a place meant for quiet and intimacy. But its distance from the packhouse had always bothered her. A sudden rogue attack wasn’t impossible, and if it happened, she and Nathan could be cut off and trapped without reinforcement.

So she prepared.

She stocked the pantry and storeroom with emergency supplies. And more importantly, she designed a hidden exit, an escape route for the worst-case scenario. No matter how strong they were, there would always be things beyond their control. Ashley had thought that far ahead, far enough to imagine a future family, children who might one day need that escape just as much as they would.

And now... here she was.

Using it to run from the man she was supposed to marry.

The irony burned.

Without wasting another second, she turned and headed for the cellar where the wine was stored. Halfway there, a faint noise echoed from upstairs.

They were waking up.

Ashley’s breath hitched. She quickened her pace, limping faster despite the pain, one hand dragging along the wall to keep herself steady as she pushed forward.

Not long after, she reached the cellar entrance. She pushed the door open and stepped inside, moving down the stairs slowly, one careful step at a time. Darkness swallowed everything, forcing her to rely on memory — the blueprint etched in her mind — and the sharpness of her other senses.

Each step echoed in the silence, loud enough to betray her nerves. Or maybe it only felt that way because of how hard her heart was pounding.

Her thoughts wouldn’t stop. Nathan. Maddison. Every layer of their scheme felt deeper than the last, as if each time she thought she had grasped the extent of it, something worse surfaced to prove her wrong.

She clenched her jaw. She had to get out.

Picking up her pace, she counted the steps in her head. Fifteen. There should be fifteen. Ten... eleven—

Her foot slipped.

In an instant, the world tilted. Pain shot through her as she lost balance, her body tumbling forward. Then she was falling and rolling helplessly down the stairs, each impact knocking the air from her lungs as darkness closed in around her.

When her body slammed against the cold floor, it felt as if every bone in her body had shattered. She lay there, barely able to move, the pain so overwhelming she couldn’t even force out a groan. The air had been knocked from her lungs, leaving her gasping in silence.

Darkness crept in at the edges of her vision, threatening to swallow her whole, but a stubborn flicker of will held her back. She couldn’t pass out. Not here. Not now.

If she did, those two warriors would find her. And if they found her, they might discover the hidden exit.

That was the one advantage she had left.

No one in the pack knew about it. The workers who built the villa had all been outsiders, brought in under strict clearance. She had planned it that way, kept this one thing entirely to herself. And because of that, she was certain Maddison hadn’t found out all the secrets of this villa and tampered with the hidden exit during the past month she spent playing house with Nathan.

That secrecy... it was the only reason Ashley still had a chance.

When the worst of the pain finally ebbed, Ashley dragged in a few shaky breaths and forced herself upright. Every movement made her body protest — bones grinding, nerves screaming — as if she might shatter apart if she pushed too far.

She didn’t need a doctor to tell her that her left arm was broken.

She had thrown it out on instinct to break her fall, and now it hung useless, throbbing with sharp, relentless pain. But even through that, she knew, it could have been worse. If she hadn’t done it, her head would have taken the impact.

And that would’ve ended everything right there.

A broken arm... was the better outcome.

After forcing herself to endure the pain, Ashley let her left arm hang uselessly at her side. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up with her right arm and began to move, slow and careful. Blind in the thick darkness, she relied on touch, feeling her way through the cellar while keeping her movements as quiet as possible.

Her fingers brushed against the wooden wine racks.

Relief slipped out in a quiet breath. At least she was on the right path.

She edged forward, step by step, careful not to make a sound. Every second mattered. The quicker she is, the better her chances. But maybe the warriors weren’t rushing. Maybe they were confident she couldn’t escape, thinking every exit was already sealed.

Let them think that.

All she could do was keep moving.

The racks stretched for about six meters. When she reached the end, her hands found the curve of a wine barrel. Just beyond it, there should be a wall-mounted candle holder. It looked ordinary, nothing more than decoration, but like the hidden mechanism upstairs, it was anything but.

Her fingers found it.

This one didn’t need to be pulled down to activate the mechanism; it had to be twisted counterclockwise three times.

Ashley swallowed, her breathing uneven. Doing that with one hand... She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but she didn’t have a choice.

Ashley reached out until her fingers found the cold, wall-mounted candle holder. Drawing in a shaky breath, she used what little strength she had left and began to twist it with one hand. Her teeth sank into her lower lip to keep from crying out. Even her right arm, unbroken, burned with sharp, stabbing pain every time she forced it to move.

Still, she pushed through.

Once. Twice. Three—

A faint click.

The mechanism gave, and the hidden exit slid open.

Relief barely had time to settle before exhaustion crashed over her. Ashley sagged against the wall, her body trembling, sweat clinging heavily to her skin.