CHAPTER 4 — The Woman Who Refused to Die
Inside the freezer, time stopped existing.
Grace collapsed to her knees.
Her breath came in shallow, painful bursts. Frost clung to her eyelashes. Her fingers barely responded when she tried to move them.
She whispered names.
“Lily… Noah… stay strong…”
She had already named them.
She wasn’t going to let them die unnamed.
The babies kicked again—weak now, but still there.
Still fighting.
Grace smiled faintly through cracked lips.
“Good,” she whispered. “That’s my babies.”
Then—
A sound.
Metal scraping.
Not from the door.
From the floor.
Grace turned her head slowly.
A maintenance hatch near the bottom wall vibrated.
Someone outside.
Distant voices.
Alexander’s team had breached the lower level.
Grace crawled toward the hatch using what little strength remained.
She pounded weakly.
“I’m here…” she whispered. “Please…”
Above her, chaos erupted—alarms, shouting, systems being overridden.
Then a voice came through the hatch speaker.
“Grace Bennett,” Alexander Cole said, “if you can hear me, answer.”
Her lips trembled.
“I… can hear you.”
A pause.
Then:
“Don’t close your eyes.”
Her tears froze on her cheeks.
“I’m trying,” she whispered.
“Good,” he said. “Because I didn’t come this far to lose you now.”
A sudden mechanical hiss.
The emergency override engaged.
The freezer temperature began to rise.
Slowly.
Barely.
But enough.
Grace collapsed against the wall, sobbing.
May you like
For the first time since the door closed—
She wasn’t alone.
