Elena: What do you mean give him something else? We don't have anything else!
Marcus: The basement tunnel leads to the old carriage house down the hill. We go out through the back.
Clara: The tunnel has been boarded up since we were children, Marcus!
Marcus: I removed the wooden boards two days ago just in case Richard pulled a stunt like this.
Richard: Five seconds, Clara! Break down the side panel, boys!
The sound of heavy axes splintering the thick oak paneling echoed through the entrance hall.
Marcus: Grab the envelope, Clara. Elena, take the flashlight from the kitchen drawer.
Elena: I'm grabbing my phone too! I'm filming everything they do to this house!
Marcus: Forget the phone, Elena! Move your feet!
Marcus kicked open the small latch door hidden beneath the rug in the hallway, revealing a dark stone staircase leading down.
Clara pulled her black veil over her face to protect her eyes from the floating dust as they rushed down the stairs.
Clara: It's freezing down here! I can barely see two feet ahead!
Marcus: Keep your hand on my shoulder, Clara. I know the way by heart.
Above them, the front door finally gave way with a deafening crash, followed by the heavy thud of footsteps overhead.
Richard: Search every room! Find that girl and get those envelope papers back!
Thug: What about the guy in the leather jacket, boss?
Richard: Break his legs and throw him out into the snow! He's nobody!
In the dark tunnel, Elena gasped, her hands shaking as she held the dim flashlight beam against the damp stone wall.
Elena: Did you hear him? He's completely insane!
Clara: He's desperate, Elena. If those trust papers reach our family lawyer in town, Richard goes to prison for life.
Marcus: Watch your step here. The floor drops down three inches near the water pipe.
Clara: Marcus... how did you know Richard was going to forge the deed?
Marcus: My father was the accountant who reviewed your mother's estate before she passed away.
Clara: What? You never told me that!
Marcus: My father tried to stop Richard three years ago. Two weeks later, my father's office burned to the ground.
Elena: Oh my god... Richard set the fire, didn't he?
Marcus: They called it an electrical accident. But I found the gasoline cans behind the alleyway. I've been waiting three years to prove it.
Clara looked at Marcus in the dim light, realizing his fight against Richard was just as personal as hers.
Clara: You came back to this mountain estate for revenge?
Marcus: I came back for justice, Clara. For my father... and to protect you from losing everything your mother built.
Elena: Look! The light at the end of the tunnel!
A faint beam of moonlit snow shone through the rusted iron grate leading into the carriage house at the bottom of the property.
Marcus: Push the grate together on three. One... two... three!
Marcus and Clara slammed their shoulders against the rusted iron frame, bursting out into the deep white snow banks outside.
Clara: We made it out!
Marcus: Not yet. Look up at the driveway.
Two black SUVs were parked near the property gates, their headlights cutting through the heavy snowfall, completely blocking their escape route.