Chapter 13 - The Three-Knock CodeThe Little Girl Who Could Read the Walls
We were trapped.
Every exterior door locked automatically.
The security system had been taken over.
Vincent lay wounded near the library entrance.
Adrian stood frozen.
Clara held her baby.
Grace held Lily.
Mia sat beside me.
Victor's voice came through every speaker.
“You spent years believing your house was safe.”
He laughed.
“Safety is just ignorance with better furniture.”
The lights dimmed.
A screen descended from the ceiling.
A video appeared.
My father.
Alive.
Young.
Angry.
He was speaking to someone off camera.
“You cannot control them.”
A second voice answered.
Victor.
“You underestimate me.”
My father smiled coldly.
“That's because you've always mistaken blood for power.”
The screen went black.
Adrian looked at me.
“You see now?”
“What?”
“Father created all of this.”
I shook my head.
“Your brother is finishing it.”
Adrian stared toward the speakers.
“No.”
He whispered,
“He's correcting it.”
I turned to Mia.
She was staring at the wall.
“Mia?”
She raised one finger.
“Listen.”
Silence.
Then:
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Her eyes widened.
“It's the code.”
“What does it say?”
She placed her ear against the wall.
“Three.”
Another set.
Knock.
Knock.
One.
She frowned.
“Three-one.”
Another.
Two.
Two.
“Three-one-two-two.”
Clara stared.
“That sequence.”
“What does it mean?”
“It means open.”
“Open what?”
Clara pointed toward the ceiling.
“The old relay.”
Marcus looked around.
“Where?”
Mia ran toward the desk.
She pulled out the bottom drawer.
Inside were dozens of old brass keys.
One had three lines engraved across it.
Clara took it.
“The family relay.”
She inserted it into a hidden slot under the floorboard.
A mechanism groaned.
The fireplace opened.
But not the staircase.
A panel behind the bricks rotated.
Inside was a control box.
Marcus stared.
“Your grandfather built an analog override.”
Mia smiled.
“I told you.”
“What?”
“The wall talks.”
We connected the system to the old wiring.
The security cameras came back one by one.
The first image showed the driveway.
The second showed the street.
The third showed the roof.
The fourth showed Victor.
He was standing in the basement.
Alone.
Adrian stepped forward.
“That's impossible.”
I zoomed the image.
Victor was holding a folder.
Beside him was a metal case.
And on the wall behind him were dozens of photographs.
Of me.
Grace.
Mia.
Caleb.
Elena.
Daniel.
Everyone.
I understood.
He had been watching us for years.
Then one photograph made me stop.
A picture of me at six years old.
Beside my father.
On the back was written:
THE BOY MUST NEVER KNOW.
I looked at my supposed childhood home.
Suddenly everything felt wrong.
The servants.
The doctors.
The schools.
The family stories.
All of it had been managed.
Controlled.
Constructed.
Then Mia touched the screen.
“What's that?”
She pointed at the basement image.
A tiny red light blinked near Victor's hand.
“What is it?”
Marcus enlarged it.
A recording device.
Victor was talking.
We turned up the volume.
His voice came through.
“Adrian thinks this is about money.”
He laughed.
“It never was.”
A pause.
“This is about revenge.”
I stared.
“Revenge for what?”
Victor continued.
“Your father stole my mother.”
Elena went rigid.
“My mother was Elena's sister.”
Grace whispered,
“Then who is Elena?”
Victor looked directly into the camera.
“The second wife.”
I felt the air leave the room.
My family tree was collapsing.
Victor's mother was my grandfather's first wife.
Elena was the second.
My father had stolen Victor's inheritance.
Then Elena's son.
Then perhaps me.
Victor wasn't trying to steal money.
He was trying to destroy the entire Duca line.
But then why target Mia?
Victor continued.
“Because children are the only witnesses adults underestimate.”
I looked at Mia.
She stared back.
“Why me?”
The speakers crackled.
Victor answered as if he'd heard her.
“Because you heard the truth before anyone else.”
He pressed something.
The library wall began to move.
The bookshelves opened.
Behind them stood a man holding a gun.
Not Victor.
A stranger.
He pointed directly at Mia.
“Bring me the child.”
Grace screamed.
I lunged.
But before I reached him, another figure appeared behind him.
Caleb.
He struck the gun from his hand.
The weapon fired.
The bullet shattered the grandfather clock.
The stranger fled.
Caleb shouted,
“RUN!”
We moved.
But Mia didn't.
She stared at the broken clock.
Then at the wall.
And whispered,
“Mr. Duca.”
“What?”
“There are four knocks now.”
We listened.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Mia's face went pale.
“That means someone is dead.”
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Then the lights went black again.
And from the basement came a scream.
