Chapter 3 - The Hidden FloorI couldn't stop staring at Elias.
Six years of trusting him.
Six years of believing he was the one person in my life who would never lie to me.
And now I was staring at a man who had apparently been standing inside the Whitaker nightmare long before I knew there was one.
“What else haven't you told me?”
Elias didn't answer.
“Elias.”
His jaw clenched.
“I was ordered to stay away from you.”
“By whom?”
“People above me.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He looked at the agents.
Then at me.
“It's the truth.”
Grant laughed again.
“You still believe him?”
I turned toward Grant.
“You've lied to me for six years.”
Grant's expression tightened.
“Yes.”
“And you still expect me to believe you?”
“No.”
His eyes suddenly looked tired.
“I expect you to believe one thing.”
He looked at me.
“I never wanted you dead.”
Conrad snapped:
“Grant!”
Grant ignored him.
“I didn't.”
I stared.
“Then why did you hurt me?”
His eyes filled with something I hadn't seen before.
Shame.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of what?”
“My father.”
Conrad stepped forward.
“Enough.”
“No.”
Grant finally turned toward his father.
“You made me marry her.”
My entire body went cold.
“What?”
Grant looked at me.
“They told me the marriage would protect the company.”
“Protect the company from what?”
“From you.”
I felt sick.
“But I wasn't doing anything.”
“You were.”
He swallowed.
“You had access.”
“To what?”
“The family trust.”
I frowned.
“I never touched it.”
“You didn't have to.”
Grant looked at Elias.
“Your wife wasn't chosen because she was weak.”
He looked back at me.
“She was chosen because her family had something the Whitakers needed.”
“What?”
Grant hesitated.
Then:
“Control.”
I shook my head.
“I don't understand.”
Elias interrupted.
“Neither did you.”
He walked toward the fireplace.
“There is a reason your name appeared on those accounts, Maria.”
I stared.
“My name?”
“You were listed as a beneficiary.”
“Of what?”
“The Whitaker offshore trust.”
I laughed.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if the trust was created before you were born.”
Silence.
“What?”
Elias turned to me.
“Your father and Conrad knew each other.”
The room blurred.
“My father died when I was twelve.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because your father spent the last year of his life trying to expose Conrad.”
I stared at him.
“My father wasn't a businessman.”
“He was an auditor.”
I remembered.
Old memories.
My father staying late at his desk.
Stacks of documents.
Telephone calls after midnight.
Arguments with people I never knew.
I had thought he was simply stressed.
Elias continued.
“He found an illegal network hidden inside several legitimate investment companies.”
“Whitaker Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Your father vanished.”
I swallowed.
“I was told he died in an accident.”
“That was the official story.”
“And the truth?”
Elias looked at Conrad.
“His car was found near a river.”
Conrad remained silent.
“But your father wasn't in the car.”
My knees weakened.
“What?”
“No body was ever recovered.”
I stared at Conrad.
He looked older suddenly.
Much older.
“You knew my father.”
Conrad slowly sat down.
“Yes.”
“What did you do to him?”
“I didn't kill him.”
“That wasn't my question.”
He looked at me.
“I made him an offer.”
“What offer?”
“Money.”
“For what?”
“His silence.”
“And he refused.”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
Conrad said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
I turned away.
Then I noticed something.
The floor beneath the antique rug.
A slight gap.
A hidden seam in the marble.
“What's under there?”
Everyone turned.
Conrad's face went white.
Elias immediately stepped forward.
“Move back.”
Security agents rushed toward the rug.
Two of them pulled it away.
A steel door was revealed beneath.
Biometric lock.
Conrad whispered:
“No.”
Elias looked at him.
“What is it?”
Conrad didn't answer.
An agent examined the lock.
“There's a secondary power source.”
He entered a code.
Nothing happened.
“It's rejecting.”
Elias looked at Conrad.
“You open it.”
“No.”
Elias motioned to the agents.
“Breach it.”
Conrad suddenly shouted:
“Don't!”
The room went silent.
He stared at the steel door.
“There are things down there that should never be seen.”
Elias smiled coldly.
“Now we're definitely opening it.”
The lock exploded inward.
The door swung open.
A staircase descended into darkness.
We went down.
One floor.
Then another.
Then another.
The house above suddenly felt impossibly far away.
At the bottom was a room filled with filing cabinets.
Servers.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Documents.
And a wall covered in names.
I walked closer.
My heart stopped.
There were dozens of names.
People.
Families.
Politicians.
Judges.
Journalists.
And then I saw mine.
MARIA WHITAKER
Beside it was a date.
My wedding day.
Below that were three words.
FINAL PHASE: ACTIVE
I stared.
“What does final phase mean?”
No one answered.
Then Elias found a folder.
He opened it.
Inside was a photograph of me.
Taken six years ago.
The day before my wedding.
On the back was a handwritten instruction.
MARRY HER.
Underneath:
GAIN ACCESS TO THE ACCOUNT.
And below that:
REMOVE HER WHEN COMPLETE.
My hands began shaking.
“Grant.”
I turned.
He stood at the bottom of the stairs.
He looked devastated.
“I didn't know.”
I looked at him.
“You married me because your family ordered you to.”
“Yes.”
“To access an account.”
“Yes.”
“And when you couldn't…”
His eyes filled with tears.
“You started hurting me.”
Grant shook his head.
“No.”
I stepped toward him.
“Then why?”
He looked at me.
And finally told the truth.
“Because the account never opened.”
My heart skipped.
“What?”
“The trust.”
He swallowed.
“It's still locked.”
I stared.
“Why?”
Grant pointed toward me.
“Because the system is waiting for one thing.”
“What?”
He whispered:
“Your death.”
The room went silent.
Then every computer screen suddenly turned on.
One message appeared across all of them.
PHASE THREE INITIATED.
May you like
And beneath it:
TARGET: MARIA WHITAKER.
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