Chapter 4 - The Secret RoomNatalie wasn't alone.
Three black SUVs pulled into the Mercer driveway.
Ethan pushed Sophie behind him.
Evelyn grabbed his shoulder.
“There isn't time.”
“Where do we go?”
She pointed to the old trunk.
“Open it.”
Ethan lifted the lid.
Inside were blankets, books, and a broken chair.
Nothing else.
Evelyn reached beneath the trunk.
She pulled a hidden lever.
The floor moved.
A narrow staircase appeared.
Ethan stared.
“How long has this been here?”
“Since Claire lived here.”
They descended.
The room beneath the attic was completely hidden.
There were shelves filled with files.
Photographs.
Hard drives.
Stacks of documents.
A map covered one wall.
And in the center stood a table.
On it was a single envelope marked:
FOR ETHAN ONLY.
Ethan opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Natalie.
But the photograph had been taken ten years earlier.
She was standing beside Daniel Vale.
Beside them was another man.
A man Ethan recognized.
Marcus Reed.
His attorney.
Ethan's hands went cold.
“No.”
Evelyn watched him.
“Your friend wasn't protecting you.”
Ethan looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I knew Claire suspected him.”
A crash shook the ceiling.
Someone was upstairs.
Evelyn pointed to a second door.
“There's another exit.”
Ethan gathered the files.
Then stopped.
“What is this?”
He found a ledger.
Hundreds of names.
Payment dates.
Amounts.
Codes.
At the bottom was one word.
MERCER.
Ethan turned the page.
His own name appeared.
Beside it:
SUBJECT: E.M.
And below that:
STATUS: UNINFORMED.
Ethan's heart hammered.
“This was all planned.”
Evelyn nodded.
“Not just your marriage.”
“What?”
“Your entire relationship with Natalie.”
He stared.
“You're saying she chose me?”
“She was assigned to you.”
Another crash.
The hidden room trembled.
Ethan suddenly remembered how Natalie had first met him.
At a charity event.
How she'd somehow known about his divorce from grief, despite never having spoken to him.
How Sophie had once told him Natalie asked strange questions about Claire.
He had dismissed everything.
Now every memory looked different.
Evelyn grabbed his arm.
“Ethan, listen carefully.”
He looked at her.
“The Vale family has been trying to recover what Claire hid for five years.”
“What did she hide?”
Evelyn's expression darkened.
“Evidence that your wife discovered a criminal network operating through Vale companies.”
“Money laundering?”
“Worse.”
She pointed to the final page of the ledger.
Ethan read the heading.
WITNESS DISPOSAL.
His blood ran cold.
A sound came from the tunnel entrance.
Someone had found the hidden door.
Evelyn whispered:
“Don't move.”
The door handle turned.
Then a voice came through.
Natalie.
“Ethan?”
He looked at Sophie.
She was trembling.
Natalie spoke again.
“I know you're down there.”
May you like
Then she added four words that shattered Ethan.
“I found Claire's last letter.”
