Chapter 2 - The door opened three inches.Then stopped.
Daniel stared at the gap.
Vanessa whispered, “Step away.”
He ignored her.
“Lily, stay behind me.”
The little girl nodded.
Daniel reached for the edge of the door.
A smell drifted into the hallway.
Bleach.
Metal.
Blood.
His jaw tightened.
He pulled.
The door opened wider.
Inside was a narrow concrete chamber.
One chair.
One hanging light.
A thin mattress.
A bucket.
And blood smeared across the floor.
Daniel stepped inside.
“Hello?”
No answer.
The voice had vanished.
But someone had definitely been there.
Chains were bolted into the far wall.
One chain was still attached.
The other hung loose.
Daniel moved closer.
On the mattress lay a man.
Unconscious.
Daniel stopped breathing.
It was Marcus Hale.
His former security chief.
A man who had disappeared three months earlier.
A man Daniel had been told was dead.
Marcus slowly opened his eyes.
“Daniel…”
Daniel dropped beside him.
“Marcus?”
Marcus tried to sit up.
“You have to get Lily out.”
Daniel looked toward his daughter.
“Why?”
Marcus stared at Vanessa.
“She knows.”
Vanessa stepped backward.
Daniel stood.
“What does she know?”
Marcus coughed.
“Everything.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“He’s lying.”
Marcus laughed weakly.
“Still using that voice?”
Vanessa’s face hardened.
“Marcus, you should have stayed dead.”
Daniel froze.
Those four words changed the temperature in the room.
He turned slowly.
“What did you say?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“I didn’t mean…”
Marcus smiled bitterly.
“She finally said it.”
Daniel approached her.
“Why did you say ‘stayed dead’?”
“Daniel…”
“Answer me.”
Marcus grabbed Daniel’s wrist.
“Don’t waste time.”
Daniel looked down.
Marcus had something in his palm.
A small brass key.
“Your father knew,” Marcus whispered.
Daniel stiffened.
“My father died twelve years ago.”
Marcus nodded.
“He did.”
“Then what did he know?”
“That this house was never just a house.”
Daniel looked around.
Every room suddenly felt different.
The mansion had belonged to his family for generations.
He had grown up here.
Celebrated birthdays here.
Married Vanessa here.
Brought Lily home here.
He knew every corridor.
Every staircase.
Every hidden passage.
At least he thought he did.
Marcus pressed the key into Daniel’s hand.
“Your father built something underneath the east wing.”
“What?”
“A room.”
“Another room?”
Marcus shook his head.
“A bunker.”
Vanessa whispered, “Stop.”
Marcus looked at her.
“You should tell him.”
She stared at Daniel.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Daniel laughed without humor.
“You chained Marcus to a wall.”
“I was forced.”
“By whom?”
Vanessa said nothing.
Then the lights went out.
Lily screamed.
A red emergency light flickered on.
Daniel grabbed her.
“Stay close.”
Something moved in the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Marcus whispered, “They’re here.”
Daniel looked toward the door.
“How many?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
A voice echoed from outside.
“Daniel Ashford.”
Daniel froze.
The voice was distorted.
“We need to talk.”
Daniel tightened his grip on Lily.
“Who are you?”
The voice answered calmly.
“The person who has been watching your family for twenty-two years.”
Vanessa began crying.
Daniel looked at her.
“Twenty-two?”
The voice continued.
“Ask Vanessa about the night your sister disappeared.”
Daniel’s heart stopped.
He hadn’t heard his sister’s name in years.
Emma.
She had vanished when she was seventeen.
Everyone had said she ran away.
Daniel had spent years believing that.
He turned toward Vanessa.
“You knew?”
“I…”
A gunshot shattered the hallway.
BANG!
Lily screamed.
The bullet struck the metal door.
Daniel pulled his daughter down.
Marcus shouted, “Run!”
Daniel looked at the brass key in his hand.
Then at the blood on the floor.
Then at Vanessa.
He suddenly realized something worse than being trapped inside the mansion.
Vanessa had not been guarding the room.
She had been guarding the person inside it.
And Marcus was only one prisoner.
A shadow appeared beneath the doorway.
Then another.
Daniel grabbed Lily.
“East wing.”
Vanessa stared at him.
“What?”
“You said you were protecting me.”
Daniel’s eyes hardened.
“Now you can prove it.”
They ran.
Behind them, the metal door burst open.
And a man in black stepped into the hallway holding a photograph.
May you like
A photograph of Lily.
Taken that morning.
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