Page 91 of Laced With Secrets

“Don’t,” I said quickly. “Adelaide said one wire is holding the roof. Any movement could trigger it?—”

Dominic’s hands pressed flat against the door, his whole body vibrating with the need to get to me. “The second that system is disabled, I’m coming in.”

The glass roof groaned again, louder this time. A support cable somewhere made a sound like a guitar string snapping—high and musical and terrifying.

“Dominic—” My voice cracked with fear.

“I’m here,” he said immediately. “I’m right here, baby. Richard and Blake’s working on it.”

“If something happens to me—” I had to say it, had to make sure I told him my feelings. “You need to know I wouldn’t change anything?—”

“Stop,” Dominic said fiercely. “You’re going to be fine.”

A tremendous crash from the basement, audible even from here. Then Richard’s voice, distant and alarmed: “The control panel—it’s been sabotaged! Explosive charges wired to the access points! If I touch it?—”

“Then don’t touch it!” Blake’s voice, equally distant. “We’ll find another way?—”

Another cable snapped overhead. The entire glass roof shuddered, iron framework groaning under impossible strain.

Through the frosted glass panels beside the door, I saw Dominic’s face—anguished, desperate, making a decision.

“Dominic, no?—”

But he was already moving. He grabbed something heavy from the corridor—I heard the crash of breaking porcelain, probably one of the decorative vases—and smashed through the glass panel beside the door. I watched as he reached through for the lock.

The door swung open. Dominic burst inside, already shrugging off his coat as he crossed the space between us in three long strides.

“Don’t move,” he ordered, voice rough.

He wrapped his heavy wool coat around my head and shoulders, cocooning me as much as possible. Through the fabric, I felt his hands frame my face, felt him lean in close.

“I love you,” he said fiercely, his voice muffled but clear through the jacket. “I love you so fucking much.”

Then, with one smooth motion, he grabbed me around the waist and yanked me off the pressure plate.

The mechanism engaged immediately. The sound was catastrophic—ancient gears screaming, metal grinding againstmetal, the release triggering with explosive force. The main cable snapped with a sound like a gunshot. The counterweight system—already compromised—failed completely.

“Hold on to me!” Dominic shouted over the noise.

He was already running, but not toward the door—too far, no time. Instead, he dove sideways, rolling us both beneath a massive iron potting table against the far wall as several tons of Victorian glass and iron framework began to fall.

We hit the ground hard, my shoulder taking the impact, but Dominic immediately repositioned himself—covering my body completely with his own. His larger frame surrounded me entirely, shielding me from the violence happening just feet above us.

Thousands of glass panels shattered simultaneously as the ancient iron framework twisted and collapsed, metal screaming as it bent and broke. Glass rained around us like deadly hail. I felt the potting table shudder and shake as heavy debris struck it.

We were lucky. The Victorian bolts held firm as the thick slate top deflected impacts that would have killed us instantly. Dominic’s body tightened around mine, taking impacts I couldn’t see, protecting me and our baby from the destruction.

Something massive struck the table directly above us—probably a section of the main framework. The table held—barely—but I heard Dominic grunt in pain as the force reverberated through the structure and into his back.

“Dominic—”

“Stay down,” he gritted out, his arms like iron around me. “Just stay down.”

The chaos seemed to last forever and an instant at once. The horrible symphony of destruction gradually faded—fewer large impacts, the settling of debris, the tinkling of smaller glass shards finding their final resting places.

Then silence. Terrible, heavy silence.

“Dom—“