Chapter 8 - The Hidden Passage
Grant disconnected the laptop from its power source.
The screen went dark.
“Someone is in the house,” I said.
He opened a desk drawer and removed a pistol.
The sight of it made Lily step backward.
Grant immediately placed it on the desk.
“Emma, take her upstairs.”
“The remote signal is coming from inside the estate.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m not leaving you alone.”
“This is not a discussion.”
Lily tugged my sleeve.
She pointed toward the library wall.
Then she tapped the carved wood panel beside the fireplace.
Grant frowned.
“What is it?”
Lily pressed one of the carved roses.
A section of the wall shifted open.
Cold air moved through the room.
Behind the panel was a narrow stone passage.
I had worked in the estate for six months.
I had never known it existed.
Grant picked up the pistol again.
“Stay behind me.”
The passage descended beneath the east wing.
The air smelled of dust and old stone.
Electrical cables had been installed along one wall.
They were new.
Someone had modernized the tunnel recently.
We followed it beneath the house.
Lily walked between us, holding my hand.
After several minutes, we reached a steel door.
Grant entered the security code he used for the wine cellar.
The lock opened.
Inside was a surveillance room.
Dozens of screens covered the walls.
Every bedroom.
Every hallway.
The kitchen.
The nursery.
My room.
Grant stared at the images.
“Mercer was watching everyone.”
A green light flashed beneath one monitor.
The remote access attempt was still active.
Grant traced the cable to a small computer.
A message appeared.
UPLOAD FAILED.
A second message followed.
HELLO, GRANT.
Then the screens changed.
Renata’s face appeared on every monitor.
She sat somewhere dark.
Her hair was pulled back.
The elegance was gone.
“You always were slow,” she said.
Grant stepped toward the screens.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere your money cannot protect you.”
“You burned my daughter.”
Renata tilted her head.
“I taught her to obey.”
“She was becoming difficult.”
“She remembered too much.”
Lily pressed herself against me.
Grant’s grip tightened around the pistol.
“If you come near her again—”
“You will do what?”
“Miss another flight?”
“I know your weaknesses, Grant.”
“I studied them for years.”
“You do not love people.”
“You love providing for them.”
“It lets you feel noble without having to be present.”
Grant’s face hardened.
“You are never going to control Lily’s trust.”
Renata smiled.
“I do not need to.”
A new video appeared on the center screen.
My mother lay sleeping in her hospital bed.
A man wearing medical scrubs entered the room.
My blood stopped.
“Mom.”
The man adjusted something on her intravenous line.
“Call the hospital,” I shouted.
Grant pulled out his phone.
Renata laughed.
“By the time anyone reaches her room, it will be too late.”
I ran toward the door.
Grant caught my arm.
“Let me go.”
“The hospital is forty minutes away.”
“She is going to die.”
“Ruiz can reach security faster.”
He called Detective Ruiz and placed the phone on speaker.
I gave her the room number.
Ruiz contacted the hospital directly.
On the screen, the man in scrubs removed a syringe from his pocket.
The hospital door opened.
Two police officers rushed inside.
The man threw the syringe and tried to escape through the window.
They tackled him beside the bed.
I nearly collapsed.
Renata’s smile disappeared.
Grant looked into the camera.
“You failed.”
“Did I?”
Another screen turned on.
It showed the hospital parking garage.
Daniel Mercer sat behind the wheel of a black SUV.
Beside him was Margaret’s son, Adam.
His hands were bound.
Mercer held a gun against his neck.
Margaret appeared in the background of the surveillance feed.
She was being wheeled from her recovery room toward an elevator by a woman dressed as a nurse.
Ruiz shouted through the phone.
“I am sending units.”
The connection to the hospital camera vanished.
Renata leaned closer to her camera.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
“The ledger.”
“The drive.”
“And Claire’s recording.”
“You will bring them to Pier Seventeen at midnight.”
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
“Then Adam dies.”
“You will kill him even if we come.”
“Possibly.”
“But Margaret will watch first.”
The screen changed again.
A live feed showed Margaret being forced into the SUV.
Renata’s voice continued.
“And if Emma refuses to cooperate, perhaps her mother will not survive the next visitor.”
I felt Grant looking at me.
We both knew the police would tell us not to go.
We both knew Renata expected a trap.
Lily stepped away from me.
She approached the central monitor.
Renata saw her.
For the first time, her expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
Lily pointed at her.
“You made Mommy fall.”
Her voice was clearer than before.
Renata’s face became rigid.
Lily took another step.
“But Mommy left a secret.”
Grant looked down at his daughter.
“What secret?”
Lily pointed toward the silver bracelet around her wrist.
I had seen her wear it every day.
Grant unfastened it carefully.
One of the decorative stars opened.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Renata lunged toward her camera.
“Turn that off.”
Grant held the card between his fingers.
“You knew Claire hid something.”
“Grant, listen to me.”
“That is why you were hurting Lily.”
“She was protecting the evidence.”
“You have no idea what is on that card.”
Renata’s voice cracked for the first time.
Grant looked directly at her.
“I think you just told me how important it is.”
He disconnected the surveillance system.
Every screen went black.
Then we heard the steel door slam behind us.
Gas began hissing through the vents.
May you like
Mercer had built the hidden room as a trap.
And someone had just locked us inside.
