Chapter 3 - His Wife in the RainAlexander stared through the glass.
Elena stood beyond the front gate.
No umbrella.
No coat.
Rain soaked her hair.
Her pale face was turned toward the mansion.
She looked terrified.
Not angry.
Not guilty.
Terrified.
Alexander took one step toward the door.
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“That’s my wife.”
“No.”
“Elena!”
His wife lifted both hands.
She pointed at the windows.
Then at the ground.
Then at herself.
She mouthed something.
Alexander could not understand.
Mia suddenly whispered:
“She says she came alone.”
Alexander looked at the child.
“How do you know?”
“I read lips.”
From upstairs came another noise.
A heavy object hitting the floor.
Evelyn raised her gun.
“We leave through the wine cellar.”
Alexander looked at Elena.
“I’m not leaving her.”
His mother looked at him.
“Your wife is the reason this house is surrounded.”
“Then why is she outside?”
“Because she is either the best actress I have ever seen…”
Evelyn paused.
“…or the worst prisoner.”
Alexander looked at Elena again.
She suddenly dropped to her knees.
Someone behind her grabbed her hair.
Alexander’s heart stopped.
Elena screamed.
Two men in dark clothing dragged her backward.
Alexander reached for the door.
Evelyn blocked him.
“Wait.”
“They have her!”
“I know.”
“I am going out.”
“You do that, and they kill both of you.”
Alexander froze.
Elena was being pulled into the darkness beyond the gate.
Then she looked directly at him.
Her lips formed three words.
Vault. Room. Seven.
Alexander understood.
Then Elena disappeared.
Mia whispered:
“She told you where to go.”
Alexander turned toward his mother.
“What is Room Seven?”
Evelyn’s face had gone pale.
“You shouldn't know that.”
“I am done hearing that.”
He grabbed her shoulder.
“My wife has been taken. Someone shot at me. A child appeared out of nowhere and knows everything. Someone in my house replaced my driver. And now you're telling me there is a secret vault beneath my father's estate.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“Yes.”
“Then take me there.”
“No.”
Alexander’s expression hardened.
“Take me there.”
A long silence.
Finally, Evelyn lowered her gun.
“Your father built seven underground rooms.”
Alexander frowned.
“For what?”
“Different purposes.”
“And Room Seven?”
Evelyn looked toward the staircase.
“For things that were never meant to exist.”
A crash came from upstairs.
Thomas’s voice echoed.
“Alexander!”
Alexander looked up.
The false Thomas was standing at the top of the stairs.
“Your mother is lying.”
Evelyn raised her weapon.
Thomas smiled.
“She always does when she's afraid.”
Then he pressed a button.
Every door in the mansion slammed shut simultaneously.
Locks engaged.
Metal shutters dropped over the windows.
The house became a sealed fortress.
Mia began crying.
Alexander looked at her.
“Where is Room Seven?”
She pointed downward.
“Under us.”
Evelyn whispered.
“How could you possibly know that?”
Mia looked at her.
“My father took me there.”
Alexander’s blood ran cold.
“Your father?”
Mia nodded.
“He worked for Mr. Vale.”
“Which Vale?”
She looked at Alexander.
“Your father.”
Alexander staggered backward.
His father had been dead for fifteen years.
Mia continued:
“He told me that when he died, I had to find you.”
Alexander stared.
“Why?”
Mia reached into her sweater.
She pulled out an old brass key.
The Vale family crest was engraved into it.
And beneath the crest were four words.
SEVENTH ROOM. TRUST NO ONE.
Then the lights came back on.
Thomas was gone.
And on the staircase lay a single photograph.
Alexander picked it up.
It showed his father standing beside Elena.
May you like
The photograph had been taken seventeen years earlier.
Before Alexander had ever met his wife.
