Chapter 5 - The hidden room contained no bodies.No weapons.
No blood.
Only evidence.
Boxes.
Files.
Photographs.
A wall covered in names.
Nathan stared at it.
Several names were crossed out.
Others had dates beside them.
One name was circled in red.
NATHAN CARTER.
Below it was a date.
SEPTEMBER 18.
Three days away.
Nathan felt his stomach drop.
“What is this?”
Victoria stood in the doorway.
“A list of people who knew.”
“Who made it?”
“Emma.”
Nathan turned.
“Why would she write my name?”
“Because she believed you were being watched.”
Nathan looked at the wall again.
The list included bankers.
Lawyers.
Employees.
And family members.
At the bottom was one final name.
VICTORIA HALE.
Nathan stared.
Her name was not crossed out.
It was underlined twice.
“Why is your name here?”
Victoria said nothing.
“You knew.”
“I knew enough.”
“How long?”
“Four years.”
Nathan shook his head.
“You let me mourn a woman who might have been alive.”
“I thought she was dead.”
“You just told me she wasn't.”
“I said she survived.”
“For how long?”
Victoria looked at the photograph.
“I don't know.”
Nathan stepped closer.
“You're lying.”
“I wish I were.”
Then they heard movement upstairs.
Nathan looked toward the ceiling.
Someone had entered the house.
He grabbed the metal box.
“Stay here.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever came knows the hidden room exists.”
Footsteps moved across the floor above them.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Nathan pulled the gun he kept in the basement safe.
He had never expected to use it.
Now he checked the chamber.
Victoria watched him.
“You shouldn't have brought that.”
“Someone came into my house with a gun.”
“This isn't your house.”
Nathan frowned.
“What?”
Victoria whispered:
“Your father built this place for one purpose.”
“What purpose?”
“To hide people.”
The footsteps stopped.
Then a voice echoed from upstairs.
“Victoria.”
She went rigid.
Nathan looked at her.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“Who is it?”
She whispered:
“My brother.”
Nathan stared.
“You have a brother?”
Victoria nodded.
“He was supposed to be dead.”
The basement door slammed shut.
A lock clicked.
They were trapped.
Nathan ran up the stairs.
Locked.
He tried the handle.
Nothing.
A voice spoke from the other side.
“You were warned.”
Nathan slammed his shoulder into the door.
Again.
The frame cracked.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
“The person your wife didn't tell you about.”
Victoria shouted:
“Marcus, stop!”
Nathan froze.
“What did you call him?”
“My brother.”
The man answered:
“She always was a terrible liar.”
Nathan kicked the door.
It burst open.
A man stood in the hallway.
Dark coat.
Gray hair.
A scar across his jaw.
Nathan raised the gun.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Marcus smiled.
“Very much like your father.”
Nathan stared.
“You knew him?”
“I worked for him.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“Marcus, leave.”
He ignored her.
His eyes stayed on Nathan.
“Your father didn't die naturally.”
Nathan's face tightened.
“What are you talking about?”
“Your mother thought he had enemies.”
Marcus smiled.
“He did.”
“Who?”
“You.”
Nathan blinked.
Marcus walked closer.
“Not the little boy you were. The man you became.”
Nathan raised the gun higher.
“Explain.”
Marcus tossed a folder onto the table.
Nathan picked it up.
Inside were company records.
His company.
Transfers.
Shell corporations.
Hidden accounts.
And signatures.
His signature.
Nathan's pulse accelerated.
“I never authorized these.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You did.”
“I didn't.”
“You just don't remember.”
Victoria whispered:
“Drugged.”
Nathan turned toward her.
“What?”
Marcus answered.
“Your father had a doctor.”
Nathan stared at Victoria.
She looked away.
“Your childhood memories aren't complete.”
Marcus continued.
“You were fifteen when you saw something you weren't supposed to see.”
Nathan's mouth went dry.
“What?”
“Emma's name appeared in your father's private records before you ever met her.”
Nathan frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
Marcus opened another folder.
Inside was an old school photograph.
Teenage Nathan.
Standing beside Emma.
Nathan stared.
“I met her in college.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Nathan looked again.
The photograph had a date.
Six years earlier.
Before Nathan remembered meeting Emma.
Emma was standing beside him.
Both were smiling.
And behind them was Nathan's father.
Nathan stepped backward.
“That isn't possible.”
Marcus whispered:
“You've been forgetting the wrong things.”
Then the basement lights went out.
A scream came from upstairs.
Lily's voice.
“Daddy!”
Nathan's blood froze.
The children weren't supposed to be home.
He ran toward the stairs.
Victoria screamed:
“Don't!”
Too late.
Nathan reached the front hall.
Lily was standing there.
Alone.
Her face was white.
She pointed toward the basement.
“Daddy…”
Nathan ran to her.
“Where's Noah?”
Lily began crying.
“They took him.”
Nathan froze.
“Who?”
Lily looked toward the open front door.
May you like
And whispered:
“The man who took Mommy.”
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