CHAPTER 5 — THE HOUSE UNDER SIEGE
The gunshot shattered the night.
Grace screamed.
Lily woke upstairs.
Nathan was already moving.
“Daniel, get her.”
Daniel ran toward the east wing.
“Grace, stay here.”
“No.”
Nathan turned.
Grace was standing beside him, pale but steady.
“My daughter is upstairs.”
“I'll bring her down.”
“You don't know where the attackers are.”
“I know this house.”
Grace shook her head.
“So do they.”
Nathan stopped.
That sentence hit harder than the gunshot.
He looked toward the security monitors.
Three black SUVs sat outside the main gate.
Snow blew violently across the driveway.
Twelve men had been detected.
All dressed in black.
All carrying weapons.
The mansion's exterior lights had gone out.
The security system was offline.
Nathan's phone showed no signal.
Someone had cut the communications network.
“They're inside the perimeter,” Daniel said.
Nathan looked at the monitors.
“How long?”
“Maybe three minutes.”
Nathan grabbed a handgun from the emergency cabinet.
Grace stared at it.
“You have weapons in the house?”
“My father did.”
She looked at him.
“Of course he did.”
Nathan didn't answer.
Another shot rang out.
Glass exploded somewhere downstairs.
Lily screamed.
“Daddy!”
Nathan's entire body tensed.
He ran.
Grace followed.
They reached the east wing.
Lily's door was open.
The two guards assigned to protect her were unconscious in the hallway.
Nathan rushed into the room.
The bed was empty.
His heart stopped.
“Lily!”
Grace pushed past him.
“No…”
Nathan searched the room.
Then he noticed the curtains moving.
He pulled them aside.
Nothing.
The window was locked.
Lily couldn't have gone outside.
Grace dropped to her knees.
“She was here.”
Nathan crouched.
“What?”
Grace pointed.
A tiny stuffed rabbit lay beneath the bed.
Lily's favorite.
Nathan picked it up.
Then he heard something.
A soft tapping.
Three taps.
Then silence.
He looked toward the wall.
Three more.
Grace's eyes widened.
“The nursery.”
Nathan immediately understood.
The hidden passage.
He grabbed the painting above the bed and pulled it away.
Behind it was a narrow wooden panel.
He pressed the crescent-shaped carving.
The panel opened.
A dark passage appeared.
Nathan entered first.
Grace followed.
They moved through the narrow corridor.
After twenty feet, they heard Lily crying.
“Daddy!”
Nathan's heart nearly broke.
“Lily!”
A small voice answered.
“I'm here!”
They turned the corner.
Lily was crouched behind an old storage cabinet.
Beside her stood one of the mansion's security guards.
Nathan raised his weapon.
“Move away from her.”
The guard immediately raised both hands.
“Sir, wait.”
Grace ran toward Lily.
The child threw herself into her mother's arms.
Nathan grabbed the guard.
“Who are you?”
“Ethan Cole.”
Nathan froze.
He recognized him.
Ethan had worked security for his father for fifteen years.
“You were assigned to the west gate.”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you here?”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
“Because someone ordered me to take her.”
Grace tightened her arms.
“Who?”
Ethan hesitated.
Nathan grabbed his collar.
“Who?”
“Victoria.”
Grace's face went white.
Victoria?
Nathan's expression hardened.
“Where is she?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
Ethan shook his head.
“She told me to get Lily out before the men arrived.”
Nathan froze.
“She told you to protect her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
Nathan released him.
Another explosion shook the mansion.
Ethan looked toward the ceiling.
“They're inside.”
Nathan nodded.
“How many?”
“More than twelve.”
Daniel appeared at the corridor entrance.
“We have a problem.”
Nathan looked at him.
“What?”
Daniel held up a phone.
“Victoria is gone.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“Her car was found abandoned near the north road.”
Grace stared.
“She's running.”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
Daniel frowned.
Nathan looked at the unconscious guards.
“She isn't running.”
“Then what?”
Nathan's expression hardened.
“She is going somewhere.”
The attackers breached the west entrance at 11:47 p.m.
Nathan moved Lily into the hidden room beneath the nursery.
It was the safest place in the mansion.
Or at least it had been.
Grace stayed with Lily.
Daniel monitored the security feeds.
Ethan stood guard.
Nathan moved through the corridors with two trusted security officers.
The mansion had become a battlefield.
Every hallway was dark.
Every window was covered.
Every sound mattered.
A shadow moved across the kitchen.
Nathan raised his weapon.
“Stop.”
The figure turned.
One of the attackers fired.
Nathan ducked.
The bullet struck the wall.
He fired once.
The man dropped.
Nathan immediately moved.
Another attacker appeared from the dining room.
Nathan tackled him.
They crashed into the marble floor.
The attacker swung.
Nathan blocked.
He punched him once.
Then again.
The man reached for his weapon.
Nathan kicked it away.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
“You think this is about money?”
Nathan grabbed him.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled.
“Your father.”
Nathan froze.
“My father is dead.”
The man's smile widened.
“That's what they wanted you to believe.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
Then the attacker bit down on something.
Nathan realized too late.
Poison.
The man's body went limp.
Nathan stared at him.
His mind raced.
If his father was dead, why had the man said—
Your father.
Unless he meant the organization.
Or someone pretending to be him.
Nathan returned to the hidden room.
Grace was holding Lily.
The little girl had stopped crying.
She looked at Nathan.
“Daddy.”
He crouched beside her.
“I'm here.”
Lily touched his face.
“Bad people?”
Nathan nodded.
“Maybe.”
“Will they take Mommy?”
“No.”
“Will they take me?”
“Never.”
Grace looked at Nathan.
She had tears in her eyes.
Nathan reached for her hand.
“We're getting out.”
“How?”
“There's another exit.”
Grace shook her head.
“I don't know this house like you do.”
Nathan looked at the walls.
“My father built this place like a fortress.”
He paused.
“And he built one exit no one knows about.”
Daniel looked up.
“Where?”
Nathan pointed toward the floor.
“Under the study.”
They moved quickly.
Nathan opened the hidden staircase.
The passage descended beneath the mansion.
But halfway down, the lights flickered.
Daniel stopped.
“Someone's already down there.”
Nathan raised his weapon.
A figure appeared at the end of the tunnel.
Victoria.
She was holding a flashlight.
And she was covered in blood.
Grace stepped forward.
“Where is Lily?”
Victoria looked at her.
“I saved her.”
Grace stared.
“What?”
Victoria pointed upward.
“The men outside weren't sent to kill her.”
Nathan frowned.
“Then what?”
“They were sent to retrieve the trust documents.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“Why?”
“Because your father hid them here.”
Nathan froze.
Victoria continued.
“My mother spent years searching for them.”
Nathan stared.
“Your mother?”
“She believed the documents could expose everything.”
“What everything?”
Victoria's eyes filled.
“The original theft.”
Nathan looked at Daniel.
“What does she mean?”
Daniel was silent.
Victoria stepped closer.
“Your father didn't steal the Miller company.”
Nathan frowned.
“You told me he did.”
“I was wrong.”
“Then who did?”
Victoria looked at Grace.
“Thomas Miller.”
Grace froze.
“My father?”
Victoria nodded.
“He transferred the company himself.”
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
“Because he was protecting someone.”
“Who?”
Victoria looked toward Lily.
“His daughter.”
Grace's eyes widened.
“What?”
“Thomas knew someone was coming for you.”
Nathan frowned.
“Why would he transfer his own company to the Coles?”
“Because the Cole name was the only protection he could buy.”
Grace shook her head.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It will.”
Victoria reached into her coat.
She pulled out a folded document.
“This is why.”
Nathan took it.
The document was old.
Stamped.
Signed.
Thomas Miller's signature was at the bottom.
Nathan read it.
His face changed.
The company transfer wasn't a sale.
It was a protective trust.
Thomas had transferred control to Richard Cole under one condition:
The company would eventually return to Thomas Miller's surviving descendants.
Nathan looked at Victoria.
“Then my father knew.”
“Yes.”
“And he kept the company anyway.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Victoria's voice broke.
“Because he discovered how much it was worth.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Victoria continued.
“He chose the money.”
Nathan looked at the document.
“So the entire Cole empire…”
“Was supposed to be temporary.”
“And Lily?”
“Is the person who can reclaim it.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
“Why did you help them?”
Victoria shook her head.
“I didn't.”
“You were engaged to me.”
“I was trying to get close enough to find the documents.”
Nathan stared.
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“And you attacked Grace.”
Victoria's face collapsed.
“I thought she was hiding the documents.”
“You could have killed her.”
“I know.”
Silence.
Nathan couldn't forgive her.
Not yet.
Maybe never.
But for the first time, he understood why she had been afraid.
Then a voice echoed from the passage behind them.
“Enough.”
Everyone froze.
A man stepped from the darkness.
Older.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
Nathan knew him.
His father's former chief financial officer.
Charles Whitmore.
Nathan raised his weapon.
“You.”
Charles smiled.
“You finally found the truth.”
Nathan's eyes hardened.
“You sent the men.”
“Yes.”
“You took Lily?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Charles looked toward Victoria.
“She did.”
Nathan turned.
Victoria's face went white.
“No.”
Charles smiled.
“Victoria brought Lily to the chapel.”
Nathan stared.
“Why?”
“Because she needed the girl alive.”
Victoria shook her head.
“I was trying to protect her.”
Charles ignored her.
“The trust cannot be activated unless Lily is present.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“What does that mean?”
Charles stepped forward.
“The original documents aren't enough.”
He pulled a small device from his pocket.
“The heir must sign.”
Nathan stared.
“She is four.”
“Exactly.”
Grace tightened her arms around Lily.
Charles smiled.
“That's why your daughter was never supposed to survive until adulthood.”
Nathan's blood boiled.
“You're sick.”
Charles laughed.
“I'm practical.”
He looked at Nathan.
“You think your father was evil?”
Nathan said nothing.
“Your father was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“Of the people who owned the empire before him.”
Charles pointed toward Grace.
“Her family.”
Grace stared.
Charles continued.
“Thomas Miller had enemies.”
“Who?”
Charles smiled.
“People who have been waiting twenty-seven years for their money.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“Who are they?”
Charles didn't answer.
Instead, he raised the device.
A screen lit up.
A live video appeared.
Lily's bedroom.
Nathan stared.
The camera showed an empty bed.
Then the image changed.
A different room.
A little girl sitting on a chair.
Nathan's blood froze.
It was Lily.
Grace screamed.
“Lily!”
But the girl on the screen wasn't in the mansion.
She was somewhere else.
Someone was holding a knife near her.
A distorted voice came through the speaker.
“Bring the original trust documents.”
Nathan's hands tightened.
“Where?”
“Back to the chapel.”
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed.
“You've been asking the wrong question.”
Nathan stared at the screen.
The voice continued:
“The question is not who wants Lily.”
A pause.
“It is who Lily belongs to.”
The screen went black.
Nathan turned toward Charles.
“Where is she?”
Charles smiled.
“You have one hour.”
Then the lights went out.
For several seconds, there was complete darkness.
Grace screamed Lily's name.
Nathan reached for her.
“Stay behind me.”
A gunshot exploded.
Then another.
The passage filled with smoke.
Nathan heard Daniel shout.
Someone attacked from behind.
Nathan turned.
He fired.
The figure disappeared into the darkness.
When the emergency lights finally came on, Charles was gone.
Victoria was gone.
Ethan was unconscious.
Daniel had been shot in the arm.
And Grace—
Grace was standing alone.
Nathan ran toward her.
“Where's Lily?”
Grace looked at him.
Her face was shattered.
“She was right here.”
Nathan stared.
The hidden room was empty.
The little blanket remained.
The stuffed rabbit was gone.
Nathan's breathing stopped.
He looked at the security monitor.
The screen flickered.
One final image appeared.
A man standing beside Lily.
The face was partially hidden.
But Nathan recognized the eyes.
They were the same eyes he had seen in the photograph Daniel had shown him.
The missing man.
Grace's brother.
Samuel Miller.
Nathan whispered,
“Samuel.”
Grace looked at the screen.
Her knees buckled.
“My brother…”
The image disappeared.
Then a message appeared.
COME ALONE, NATHAN.
BRING THE LETTER.
AND DO NOT TRUST THE WOMAN YOU LOVE.
Nathan stared at the final line.
Grace slowly looked at him.
Neither of them spoke.
Because they both understood.
The enemy knew about the letter.
They knew about Lily.
They knew about Samuel.
And somehow—
They knew exactly how Nathan felt about Grace.
May you like
Outside, the mansion burned beneath the falling snow.
And somewhere in the darkness, Nathan's daughter was being held by the one person he had spent years believing was dead.
