Chapter 2 - The Man Behind the GlassDaniel carried Lily into the living room while Evan moved toward the staircase.
“Don't,” Vanessa said sharply.
Evan stopped.
Daniel noticed the way she said it.
Not frightened.
Commanding.
As if she knew exactly what Evan intended to do.
“Why shouldn't he go upstairs?” Daniel asked.
Vanessa swallowed.
“I don't know who's up there.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You just told me Lily imagined it.”
“I said she might have imagined it.”
“That isn't what you said.”
The house remained dark.
Emergency lights from the security system blinked faintly in the hallway.
Red.
Red.
Red.
Like a heartbeat.
Daniel placed Lily on the sofa.
“Stay here.”
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Don't go.”
“I'll be right back.”
“No.”
Her fingers tightened.
“The man has your picture.”
Daniel paused.
“What?”
“He had Daddy's picture.”
“Where?”
Lily pointed toward the staircase.
“Upstairs.”
Daniel looked at Evan.
“You knew?”
Evan nodded.
“I suspected.”
Daniel's anger rose.
“Then you tell me what's happening in my house right now.”
“I can't.”
Daniel shoved him against the wall.
“Try.”
Evan didn't fight back.
Instead, he whispered, “Because if I tell you too soon, whoever has been watching you will know I told you.”
Daniel released him.
“Watching me?”
Evan straightened his jacket.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“That is what I've been trying to find out.”
Vanessa stood frozen near the kitchen.
Daniel turned to her.
“And you?”
She said nothing.
Daniel's phone vibrated again.
REMOTE ACCESS SESSION ACTIVE.
He opened the security application.
Fourteen cameras were listed.
Thirteen were offline.
One was still streaming.
The upstairs hallway.
The image flickered.
Static.
Then clarity.
Daniel saw the empty hallway.
At the far end stood the door to his father's old study.
Daniel had not entered that room in six months.
His father, Richard Stellan, had died four years earlier.
The study remained mostly untouched.
Then the camera moved.
Not physically.
Digitally.
Someone was controlling it.
The angle shifted toward the study door.
It opened.
Slowly.
Daniel stared at the screen.
A figure stepped into view.
Gray coat.
Gloves.
Face hidden.
The figure looked directly into the camera.
Then raised one hand.
A single finger moved across the lips.
Silence.
The feed died.
Daniel immediately ran upstairs.
“Daniel!”
He ignored Vanessa.
Evan followed.
The second floor was cold.
Daniel reached the study.
The door was open.
His father's desk stood in the center.
Everything appeared normal.
Except for one thing.
The wall behind the desk was open.
A narrow compartment had been revealed.
Daniel stared.
“I never knew that was there.”
Evan moved beside him.
“That compartment isn't in any floor plan I found.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What floor plan?”
Evan's face tightened.
“No time.”
They entered.
Inside the compartment was a metal box.
Daniel pulled it out.
The lock had already been broken.
Inside were old documents, photographs, a key, and a cassette tape.
Daniel picked up the top photograph.
His father stood beside a younger woman.
A woman Daniel recognized.
Vanessa.
He dropped the photograph.
Evan whispered, “You didn't know.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You knew she knew my father.”
“I knew they had contact.”
“How much?”
“Enough that I thought you were in danger.”
Daniel's blood ran cold.
He looked through the remaining photographs.
There were dozens.
His father.
Vanessa.
Hotels.
Factories.
A warehouse.
And one photograph taken outside the Stellan family company nearly twenty years earlier.
In the corner of the image stood a little boy.
Daniel.
He looked about six.
Someone had circled him in red ink.
On the back of the photograph, one sentence had been written.
THE HEIR MUST NEVER KNOW.
Daniel's hands trembled.
“What does this mean?”
Evan picked up the cassette tape.
“That might explain it.”
The lights suddenly returned.
Daniel spun around.
The study door slammed shut.
They rushed toward it.
Locked.
From the hallway came Vanessa's voice.
“Daniel?”
He ran to the door.
“Vanessa, open it!”
Silence.
Then her voice again.
But this time it sounded distant.
“Daniel, I need you to listen carefully.”
Daniel stopped.
“What?”
“I didn't know he would come tonight.”
“Who?”
A pause.
Then Vanessa whispered four words that made Daniel's stomach turn.
“Your father is alive.”
The line went dead.
Daniel stared at the door.
Evan looked equally stunned.
“My father is dead.”
Evan shook his head.
“That is what you've been told.”
Daniel's heart pounded.
Suddenly something scraped beneath the desk.
They both turned.
A phone slid out from the darkness.
Its screen lit up.
One incoming message.
ASK VANESSA WHO KILLED RICHARD STELLAN.
Then another message arrived.
AND ASK HER WHY SHE WAS THERE.
Daniel slowly looked at Evan.
“What happens now?”
May you like
Evan stared at the phone.
“Now,” he said, “we find out which part of your life has been a lie.”
Related Stories
