Chapter 4: Ten Minutes
The first beep came from upstairs.
Then another.
Then another.
A red digital timer appeared on the security monitor.
09:59
Nathan stared at it.
The numbers continued falling.
09:58.
09:57.
Nobody moved.
Then Grace whispered,
“They found us.”
Nathan turned toward her.
“Who?”
Grace shook her head.
“I don't know.”
“You know something.”
“I know enough to be afraid.”
Victoria suddenly rushed toward the hallway.
Nathan caught her arm.
“Where are you going?”
“My father.”
“You're not leaving.”
“Let go of me!”
Victoria struggled.
Nathan tightened his grip.
“Not until you tell me the truth.”
Victoria looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“You don't understand what happens if that timer reaches zero.”
“What happens?”
She didn't answer.
Nathan glanced at Daniel.
“You know.”
Daniel's expression remained grim.
“Yes.”
“What happens?”
Daniel looked at the timer.
“Someone dies.”
Grace pulled Lily closer.
Nathan's face hardened.
“Who?”
Daniel shook his head.
“They didn't say.”
“Then find out.”
Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out a phone.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because the number is untraceable.”
Nathan looked at the security system.
“You disabled my network once.”
“I didn't disable it.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel looked toward Victoria.
She lowered her eyes.
Nathan understood.
“You did.”
Victoria's voice cracked.
“I was trying to protect you.”
“By shutting down my security?”
“By stopping them from seeing where you were.”
Nathan stared at her.
“Who are they?”
Victoria finally whispered,
“The Whitmore Group.”
Nathan went silent.
His mother's maiden name was Whitmore.
His father's old business empire had been controlled by that family for decades.
But Charles had always told Nathan the Whitmores were allies.
Not enemies.
Nathan looked at Daniel.
“Why would my own family want Lily?”
Daniel answered carefully.
“Because Lily is proof.”
“Proof of what?”
Daniel glanced at Grace.
She looked away.
Nathan's patience snapped.
“Everyone in this house seems to know something except me.”
He pointed toward the timer.
“And I have less than ten minutes to figure it out.”
Grace slowly stood.
“Lily was never supposed to survive.”
Nathan froze.
“What?”
Grace's voice trembled.
“When she was born, they told me she couldn't leave the hospital.”
“Who?”
“Charles.”
Nathan's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because your family had already decided what would happen to you.”
Grace looked at Victoria.
Victoria closed her eyes.
“They were going to take control of Cole Holdings.”
Nathan stared at her.
“What does that have to do with Lily?”
Grace answered.
“Everything.”
She reached into her uniform again.
This time, she pulled out a small blue key.
Nathan recognized it immediately.
The same key he had seen attached to his father's old safe years ago.
“Where did you get that?”
“Charles gave it to me.”
Nathan looked confused.
“Then why would he tell you not to trust me?”
Grace shook her head.
“He didn't.”
“What?”
“The call you received tonight wasn't Charles.”
Nathan's eyes widened.
He looked at his phone.
The call log still displayed:
CHARLES WHITMORE
Grace stepped closer.
“They can fake phone numbers.”
Daniel nodded.
“She’s right.”
Nathan stared at him.
“Then who called me?”
Daniel looked toward the timer.
“The same person controlling the house.”
A loud metallic click came from somewhere downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Nathan immediately turned toward the basement door.
Grace grabbed Lily.
“What was that?”
Daniel whispered,
“The safe.”
Nathan's eyes narrowed.
“My father's safe?”
Daniel nodded.
Nathan moved toward the basement.
Victoria blocked his path.
“No.”
Nathan stopped.
“Move.”
“You can't open it.”
“Why?”
“Because that's what they're waiting for.”
Nathan looked at the timer.
07:42
He looked back at Victoria.
“What is inside?”
Victoria's voice dropped.
“The truth about your father.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
“Yes.”
“And the safe hasn't been opened since.”
Victoria swallowed.
“That's what you were told.”
Nathan slowly understood.
“My father left something.”
Victoria nodded.
“For you.”
“What?”
She hesitated.
“Evidence.”
“Evidence of what?”
“Of the night he died.”
Nathan stared at her.
His father's death had always been described as a heart attack.
A sudden one.
Unavoidable.
Nathan had been twenty-four.
He had accepted it.
He had mourned.
Then he had buried himself in work.
But now his chest tightened.
“You're telling me my father didn't die naturally?”
Victoria shook her head.
“He was murdered.”
Grace closed her eyes.
Daniel looked away.
Nathan's voice became almost inaudible.
“Who killed him?”
Nobody answered.
The timer continued.
06:51
Nathan stepped toward the basement.
Victoria grabbed his sleeve.
“If you open that safe, they will know.”
Nathan looked at her.
“They already know.”
He pulled away.
“And I'm done being afraid of people who have been lying to me for five years.”
He opened the basement door.
The lights flickered on.
Daniel followed.
Grace remained upstairs with Lily.
Victoria stood motionless.
Then she whispered,
“Nathan.”
He looked back.
Victoria's face was filled with fear.
“If you find the blue file…”
Nathan waited.
“Don't read the last page.”
“Why?”
Victoria looked at Grace.
“Because that's where you'll find out who Lily's real father is.”
Nathan froze.
His eyes moved slowly toward the little girl.
Lily was watching him.
Her tiny face was confused.
Then the timer changed.
05:00
A voice suddenly came through the house speakers.
Calm.
Cold.
Almost amused.
“Time to choose, Nathan.”
The basement door slammed shut behind him.
Nathan turned.
Locked.
The voice continued.
“Your daughter…”
A pause.
“Or your mother.”
Nathan's blood ran cold.
He looked at Victoria.
She was standing upstairs.
And for the first time, she wasn't looking at Nathan.
She was looking behind him.
Nathan slowly turned.
A shadow was standing at the far end of the basement.
Someone had been waiting for him.
Then the figure stepped into the light.
May you like
Nathan stopped breathing.
It was a man he believed had been dead for twelve years.
