Chapter 5 - The trapdoor led to another staircase.By then I had stopped asking how many hidden rooms existed in the Sterling house.
I only wondered how many people had disappeared inside them.
The detective entered first.
“Stay behind us.”
The air smelled of dust and chemicals.
The staircase opened into a narrow corridor beneath the mansion.
Unlike the basement, this place was immaculate.
Clean white walls.
Cameras.
Bright fluorescent lights.
Doors on both sides.
It looked less like a family home and more like a private laboratory.
One door stood open.
Inside were folders.
Thousands of them.
The detective picked up the first file.
A woman's name.
Then another.
Then another.
All women.
All married into wealthy families.
All connected to the Sterling family.
My hands went cold.
“Who are these people?”
Nobody answered.
Then I saw mine.
CLAIRE BENNETT STERLING.
I opened the folder.
There was a photograph of me taken outside my office.
Another outside my condo.
Another through the window of a restaurant.
Then medical records.
Bank statements.
Employment information.
A behavioral profile.
At the top was a sentence.
PRIMARY SUBJECT: HIGH RESISTANCE TO COERCION.
I stared at it.
“What the hell?”
Adrian stood behind me.
He looked sick.
“They've been watching you.”
“For how long?”
He didn't answer.
I flipped through the pages.
There were notes.
My habits.
My friendships.
My weaknesses.
Everything.
Then I found a document dated three months before Adrian proposed.
It contained one sentence:
Recommended acquisition strategy: marriage.
My hands began shaking.
Adrian whispered,
“I didn't know.”
I turned toward him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear.”
“Then why did you marry me?”
He looked broken.
“At first, because I loved you.”
“At first?”
His silence answered.
Then he said,
“Because after I found out what my father was doing, I tried to leave.”
“And?”
“He threatened you.”
I stared.
“What did he threaten to do?”
“Everything.”
“That's not an answer.”
“He said he'd destroy your career. Ruin your family. Make you disappear.”
Maya stepped into the room.
“That wasn't a threat.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It was what he did to Evelyn.”
The detective turned.
“Tell me what happened.”
Maya took a deep breath.
“Evelyn had evidence. She discovered Charles was moving money through shell companies. But that wasn't the worst thing.”
“What was?”
“He was buying people.”
“Who?”
“Judges. Lawyers. Police officers. Doctors.”
The detective's face hardened.
Maya continued.
“And when someone became a problem…”
She looked toward the empty restraints in the previous room.
“They were brought here.”
A phone began ringing.
This time it was mine.
Unknown number.
I answered.
Evelyn spoke.
“Claire, listen carefully.”
“Where are you?”
“You don't have much time.”
“What do you mean?”
“Charles knows the police found the files.”
“He knows everything?”
“He always does.”
“Then why are you helping me?”
A pause.
“Because I owe you.”
“You've never met me.”
“I knew your mother.”
The world seemed to tilt.
“My mother?”
Evelyn continued.
“Your mother wasn't the innocent woman you think she was.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Ask her about the Sterling family.”
My blood froze.
“My mother died eight years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then how could you know her?”
“Because she helped me escape.”
I couldn't speak.
Evelyn whispered,
“She was the reason Charles couldn't kill me.”
Then the line cut.
The detective stared at me.
“What did she say?”
Before I could answer, a scream came from upstairs.
We ran.
Charles stood in the hallway.
Eleanor was on the floor.
Adrian rushed toward her.
Then he stopped.
Because her throat was cut.
Blood pooled beneath her.
The detective shouted for medical assistance.
I stepped backward.
My hands were shaking.
Charles stared at me.
And suddenly I understood.
Someone had just killed Eleanor.
Right in front of us.
But the killer had left one thing behind.
A note pinned to her dress.
I walked closer.
The detective tried to stop me.
But I saw my name.
May you like
Written in black ink.
CLAIRE, YOU'RE NEXT.
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