Chapter 12 - Sarah spun around.Nothing.
Then the vent above us moved.
A tiny black camera dropped from the ceiling.
Everyone froze.
Someone had been watching us.
I looked at Lily.
“How did you know?”
She pointed to the wall.
“There.”
A red light blinked.
“That's the same light I saw before.”
Sarah approached it.
Behind the panel was a microphone.
She ripped it out.
A voice immediately came through the speaker.
My father's.
“Smart girl.”
Lily hid behind me.
I felt something inside me break.
“Leave her alone.”
“You still don't understand what she remembers.”
“She is six.”
“She remembers enough.”
“What happened at Room Three?”
Silence.
Then my father said:
“Ask your mother.”
Claire stepped forward.
“He wants you to think this is about Lily.”
“What is it about?”
“Control.”
I stared at her.
She continued.
“Your grandfather created Room Three after someone threatened the family.”
“Who?”
“He was afraid of the government.”
“That makes no sense.”
“It wasn't the government.”
Claire looked at Michael.
“It was a man.”
Michael finished:
“Elias Vale.”
The name from the notebook.
I remembered it.
“Who is he?”
My father answered.
“You've met him.”
I thought of the gray-haired man at the warehouse.
No.
That wasn't right.
My father's face appeared on the monitor.
“Elias was your grandfather's closest advisor.”
“Is he alive?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“You're looking at him.”
The screen changed.
The image zoomed in on the man from the warehouse.
Elias Vale.
My father had been speaking through him.
But then who was actually controlling everything?
Michael whispered:
“Father isn't the boss.”
I looked at him.
“You said Elias.”
“He is.”
My father laughed.
On screen, Elias entered the frame.
He was older than my father.
Calm.
Almost gentle.
“Daniel.”
I stared at him.
“You killed my family.”
“No.”
“You imprisoned Claire.”
“No.”
“You kidnapped Lily.”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
Elias smiled.
“The archive.”
“What archive?”
“Room Three.”
I looked at Claire.
She shook her head.
“I never found the vault.”
Elias said:
“You did.”
Claire went pale.
“What?”
“You opened the door.”
“I never saw inside.”
“You couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because the vault isn't a room.”
He looked directly at Lily.
“It's a memory.”
Lily stared at the screen.
I felt a chill.
Elias continued.
“Your daughter saw something the night she was born.”
Claire shook her head.
“She was a baby.”
“Babies remember.”
“Not like that.”
“Lily does.”
He told us the story.
The night Lily was born, my father came to the hospital.
Not for me.
Not for Claire.
He came for Lily.
But someone else arrived first.
My mother.
She took Lily.
She disappeared with her for eleven minutes.
Those eleven minutes were never explained.
According to Elias, that's when she showed Lily something.
A red door.
A room.
A ledger.
A list of names.
Lily had been too young to understand.
But her brain stored the image.
And now, six years later, the memory was resurfacing.
“Why do you need her?” I asked.
“Because the ledger is gone.”
Claire whispered:
“She memorized it.”
Elias smiled.
“Exactly.”
I stared at Lily.
“Does she know the names?”
Elias said:
“She doesn't know she knows.”
Then the chapel doors appeared on the monitor.
Someone was waiting inside.
Vanessa.
She looked at the camera.
Then she mouthed silently:
Don't bring Lily.
I understood immediately.
This was a trap.
Elias wanted Lily's memory.
And someone else was trying to stop him.
I looked at Michael.
“Can we get there first?”
He nodded.
“There is another entrance.”
“Where?”
“Under the chapel.”
Sarah grabbed her gear.
We moved.
But as we reached the tunnel entrance, an explosion shook the building.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The lights died.
And in the darkness, I heard Lily whisper:
“Dad…”
“What?”
“I remember the man from the red door.”
My heart pounded.
“Who?”
May you like
She looked up.
“It was Grandpa.”
