Chapter 12 - THE ROOM UNDER THE RIVER WAREHOUSEPolice traced the live feed.
It was coming from beneath the same warehouse.
There was a basement.
Not on the original blueprints.
A hidden level.
We found the entrance behind a steel panel.
The stairs went down into darkness.
Every instinct told me to rush.
Reed stopped me.
“We go together.”
We moved slowly.
At the bottom was a corridor lined with surveillance equipment.
Screens showed rooms across the city.
Hospitals.
Offices.
Schools.
Even the temporary apartment.
Victor had built an underground command center.
Then we heard Lily.
“Dad!”
I ran.
Reed grabbed my shoulder.
“Wait.”
He pointed.
A red laser crossed the doorway.
Tripwire.
We disabled it.
Then entered.
Lily sat on a chair.
Her wrists weren't tied.
Victor stood ten feet away.
Claire was there too.
And Martin.
Everyone had a gun.
Except me.
Victor smiled.
“You came.”
I looked at Lily.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“I'm okay.”
Victor spread his hands.
“This can still end peacefully.”
“You hurt my daughter.”
“I didn't.”
“You orchestrated it.”
“I arranged circumstances.”
My fists tightened.
“That doesn't make you innocent.”
“No.”
He smiled.
“It makes me honest.”
Claire stared at him with disgust.
“You said you wouldn't touch her.”
“I didn't.”
“You made her disappear.”
“She was never in danger.”
“You put her in a locked room.”
Victor shrugged.
“Fear is useful.”
Anna stepped forward.
“You're still doing it.”
Victor looked at her.
For the first time, his smile vanished.
“You should be dead.”
“I was supposed to be.”
“Your father saved you.”
Anna shook her head.
“No. Ethan's father saved me.”
Victor looked at me.
“Your father ruined everything.”
“What did he know?”
“That I was building something bigger than a company.”
“What?”
“A network.”
“For what?”
“Control.”
He motioned toward the screens.
“Information is power.”
“Kidnapping children isn't power.”
“It is when nobody believes them.”
Silence.
Then Martin stepped forward.
“I'll testify.”
Victor laughed.
“You think anyone will believe you?”
Martin pulled out a recording device.
“They'll hear everything.”
Victor's expression changed.
It was the first time he looked afraid.
Martin had recorded the entire conversation.
Victor reached for his gun.
Police stormed the room.
Everything happened at once.
Officers shouted.
Claire dropped to the floor.
Martin raised his hands.
Victor ran.
I grabbed Lily.
She held onto me.
“Dad!”
“I've got you.”
Victor disappeared into a side corridor.
Police chased him.
A gunshot echoed.
Then another.
Silence.
Minutes later, Reed returned.
Victor was gone.
He had escaped through a drainage tunnel.
But he left one thing behind.
His laptop.
The laptop contained years of files.
Names.
Payments.
Recordings.
Photographs.
And one folder labeled:
FINAL SUBJECT.
I opened it.
Inside was a picture of Lily.
Taken yesterday.
And below it:
Phase Two Begins After Ethan's Arrest.
There was another document.
A custody petition.
Already prepared.
Already signed.
My name appeared under:
Respondent.
Someone had been planning not just to take Lily.
May you like
They had planned to make the entire world believe I had been the one who hurt her.
And the petition had already been filed.
