Chapter 2 - Adrienne heard the impact again.Boom.
A pause.
Boom.
Something was moving beneath the house.
Tony instinctively reached for his weapon.
Vivien went pale.
Adrienne looked at the floor.
The sound had come from the old west wing.
The wing had been sealed seven years ago after a plumbing disaster.
At least, that was what Adrienne had been told.
“Mia,” Adrienne said quietly, “did you hear that?”
She nodded.
“Bruno.”
Adrienne's stomach twisted.
“Tony. Open the west wing.”
Tony looked uncertain.
“Boss, that area has been locked since—”
“I know what I've been told.”
He took the master key from the wall cabinet.
“Open it.”
Tony moved.
Vivien suddenly stepped in front of him.
“No.”
The word came too quickly.
Adrienne turned.
Vivien seemed to realize her mistake.
“I mean… it's unsafe.”
Adrienne stared at her.
“You're protecting a condemned hallway?”
“There could be mold.”
Tony looked between them.
Adrienne extended his hand.
“Give me the key.”
Vivien's face tightened.
“This is unnecessary.”
“Then you won't mind.”
He took the key from the cabinet himself.
The lock turned.
The old door groaned open.
A corridor stretched beyond it.
Dust.
Darkness.
Broken furniture.
No people.
No dog.
Adrienne stepped inside.
Tony followed.
Behind them, Vivien stayed at the threshold.
Adrienne noticed.
He didn't comment.
They reached the end of the hallway.
Another door.
This one newer.
Steel.
Adrienne looked at Tony.
“Why is there a steel security door inside a condemned wing?”
Tony shook his head.
“I've never seen it.”
Adrienne tried the handle.
Locked.
“Break it.”
Tony hesitated.
“Boss, maybe we should—”
“Now.”
Tony called two guards.
Thirty seconds later, the door was forced open.
A staircase descended into darkness.
The temperature dropped immediately.
Mia suddenly cried.
“Uncle Addy!”
Adrienne turned.
She was standing several yards away with Elena, the estate's longtime housekeeper.
Mia was pointing down the staircase.
“He's there.”
Adrienne looked down.
A faint metallic scratching came from below.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
Adrienne's heart slammed.
“Bruno?”
The scratching stopped.
Then came one weak whine.
Tony's face changed.
“That's him.”
Adrienne moved so fast Tony barely kept up.
They descended.
The basement was enormous.
Much larger than the blueprints Adrienne remembered.
Industrial lights hung from the ceiling.
Old wine racks lined one wall.
The opposite wall was covered with shelves.
And at the far end, behind a set of bars, stood Bruno.
The mastiff could barely lift his head.
Adrienne froze.
“Bruno.”
The dog tried to stand.
His legs buckled.
Adrienne ran to him.
Tony unlocked the gate.
Adrienne knelt in the filthy floor and wrapped his arms around Bruno's massive head.
“Easy.”
Bruno's breathing was shallow.
Adrienne looked at the dog's pupils.
Too slow.
Drugged.
But alive.
“Call the vet.”
Tony immediately dialed.
Adrienne examined Bruno's collar.
It was the same collar he'd worn for years.
Except something had been added.
A tiny black capsule was attached beneath the leather.
Tony noticed it too.
“What is that?”
Adrienne pulled it free.
There was a number scratched into the casing.
He stared at it.
“Take it to forensics.”
“Yes.”
A noise came from behind them.
Footsteps.
Adrienne stood.
Tony drew his weapon.
“Who's there?”
Nothing.
Then a door at the far end slammed shut.
Tony ran.
Adrienne followed.
They reached it.
Locked.
Tony smashed the handle.
Inside was a small room.
Empty.
Except for one chair.
A syringe lay on the floor.
And taped to the wall was a photograph.
Adrienne stepped closer.
It showed him as a teenager standing beside Bruno.
Adrienne stared.
The photo had been taken eighteen years earlier.
No one outside his family should have had it.
Then Tony noticed writing on the back.
“Boss…”
Adrienne turned the photograph over.
Three words had been written in black ink.
YOU NEVER LOOKED.
Adrienne felt something cold settle in his chest.
He knew the handwriting.
He had seen it once before.
Years ago.
On a letter his father had burned in front of him.
“Tony.”
“Yes?”
“Call my father's old lawyer.”
“He died six years ago.”
“Then find out who inherited his files.”
Tony nodded.
Adrienne looked down at Bruno.
“Someone has been using this house for years.”
He stood.
“And they didn't just take my dog.”
Footsteps echoed from the staircase.
Adrienne turned.
Vivien was standing at the top.
“How did you get down here?”
She stared at Bruno.
She looked terrified.
Adrienne climbed the stairs.
“Why are you afraid of my dog?”
Vivien backed away.
“I’m not.”
“Then why did you almost faint?”
“I didn't.”
Adrienne stepped closer.
“You knew this room existed.”
“No.”
“Who has been using this basement?”
“No one.”
Adrienne smiled without humor.
“Then explain the photograph.”
Vivien looked at it.
Her face lost all color.
“I've never seen that.”
“Liar.”
She shook her head.
“You don't understand.”
Adrienne's voice hardened.
“Then explain.”
Vivien looked toward the corridor.
“I can't.”
“Why?”
“Because if I tell you…”
She swallowed.
“…they'll kill Mia.”
Adrienne went completely still.
“Who?”
Vivien's eyes filled with fear.
Before she could answer, every light in the basement went out.
Blackness.
Then a voice came through the intercom.
Calm.
Male.
Familiar.
“Hello, Adrienne.”
Adrienne froze.
He knew that voice.
He hadn't heard it in twenty years.
The speaker crackled.
“You came home earlier than expected.”
Adrienne whispered one word.
“Father?”
The voice laughed.
May you like
“Still calling me that?”
Then the entire house's security system locked from the inside.
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