Chapter 7 - “Elena!”Ruiz grabbed her and pushed her behind a concrete pillar.
Another shot struck the wall.
“Stay down!”
Officers rushed through the doorway.
The secret room had only one entrance.
And Adrian was gone.
Ruiz scanned the walls.
“No one leaves!”
He found a narrow passage behind a bookshelf.
The bookshelf had been moved.
A hidden tunnel.
“Search it!”
Two officers disappeared into the passage.
Elena stood trembling.
“Where does it go?”
Ruiz looked at the tunnel.
“According to the property plans, nowhere.”
“That doesn't make sense.”
“Exactly.”
Minutes later, they found Adrian at the opposite end.
He was unconscious.
There was blood on his shirt.
Elena rushed toward him.
Ruiz stopped her.
“Wait.”
He checked his pulse.
Alive.
A deep cut crossed his shoulder.
When Adrian opened his eyes, he looked confused.
“What happened?”
“You tell me.”
Adrian looked around.
“He shot me.”
“Who?”
“I couldn't see.”
“Where did he go?”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“You need to get out.”
“Who was he?”
“I don't know.”
Ruiz grabbed his shoulder.
“You're lying.”
Adrian winced.
“I saw him.”
“Then describe him.”
Adrian swallowed.
“He was wearing my father's watch.”
Elena stared.
Charles Howard's watch had supposedly been buried with him.
Ruiz ordered the house searched again.
Upstairs, Vanessa was gone.
Her room was empty.
The window was locked.
The guards hadn't seen her leave.
Ruiz found a secret panel behind her wardrobe.
Inside were passports.
Three of them.
All under different names.
Cash.
A handgun.
And a photograph.
Vanessa stood beside an older man.
The man looked exactly like Adrian.
Except older.
With gray hair.
Ruiz stared at the image.
“Elena.”
She came over.
Her hand flew to her mouth.
“That isn't Charles.”
“Who is it?”
She looked at Adrian.
“It's his uncle.”
Ruiz frowned.
“Adrian's uncle died before I met the family.”
Adrian slowly approached.
He looked at the photograph.
His face collapsed.
“No.”
“Who?”
“My father's twin.”
Elena stared at him.
“You told me your father was an only child.”
“I believed he was.”
Ruiz turned the photograph over.
A message was written on the back.
The wrong Howard inherited everything.
Suddenly a phone rang.
Not Ruiz's.
Not Elena's.
Adrian's.
Everyone froze.
Adrian pulled it from his pocket.
The caller ID showed one word.
DAD.
He answered.
“Hello?”
Silence.
Then a man's voice.
Calm.
Cold.
“You should have killed her when you had the chance.”
Adrian's face turned white.
“Who are you?”
The caller laughed.
“You know who I am.”
The line disconnected.
Ruiz grabbed the phone.
“Can you trace it?”
The officer looked at the screen.
“We already have.”
Ruiz waited.
The officer swallowed.
“The call came from inside the mansion.”
Everyone turned toward the hallway.
May you like
And somewhere in the darkness above them...
someone began slowly applauding.
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