Chapter 4 - The Envelope VanishedThe man on the floor was Victor Lane.
Or at least, that was what I thought.
Ethan dropped beside him.
“Call an ambulance!”
Vanessa screamed for security.
Patricia arrived behind her.
Daniel followed.
Within seconds, the foyer became chaos.
But I wasn't looking at Victor.
I was watching Vanessa.
She had asked one question.
Where is the envelope?
She couldn't possibly know about it.
Unless she'd been listening.
Or unless she'd been searching my room.
I reached into my bag.
The envelope was gone.
My chest tightened.
I had placed it on the bed.
Now it wasn't there.
I turned toward Ethan.
“Don't touch anything.”
He looked at me.
“What?”
“Don't.”
Vanessa was staring at me.
“What happened?”
I looked directly at her.
“The envelope.”
“What envelope?”
The lie came too quickly.
I smiled faintly.
“The one you just asked about.”
Her face changed.
Only for half a second.
But I saw it.
Patricia didn't.
Daniel didn't.
Ethan did.
He stared at Vanessa.
“You asked about an envelope.”
Vanessa recovered immediately.
“I meant the envelope from the florist.”
“No.”
Ethan stood.
“You specifically asked my mother where the envelope was.”
Vanessa's voice trembled.
“You're imagining things.”
I walked toward her.
“Am I?”
She stepped back.
The ambulance arrived.
Paramedics rushed inside.
Victor was alive.
Barely.
As they carried him away, he grabbed my wrist.
His fingers were ice-cold.
He whispered:
“Basement.”
Then he lost consciousness.
I looked toward the basement door.
Locked.
That wasn't unusual.
What was unusual was the fresh scratch around the keyhole.
Someone had tried to open it.
I walked toward the door.
Daniel blocked me.
“You shouldn't go down there.”
I looked up at him.
“Why?”
“It's storage.”
“I know.”
“I keep chemicals there.”
“Then why is the lock scratched?”
His face hardened.
“Don't accuse me.”
“I haven't accused anyone.”
But I had.
Silently.
Ethan came beside me.
“Open it.”
Daniel refused.
“This is my house.”
“No,” Ethan said quietly.
“This is my family's house.”
Daniel stared at him.
For the first time, I saw fear.
Not anger.
Fear.
Patricia stepped between them.
“This is ridiculous.”
I looked at her.
“Then you won't mind if we open the door.”
She hesitated.
That was enough.
Ethan took the key from Daniel's hand.
The door opened.
A damp smell filled the air.
The basement was dark.
Ethan turned on the lights.
Boxes lined the walls.
Old furniture.
Wine crates.
Documents.
Nothing obvious.
Then I saw it.
A small camera mounted near the ceiling.
I pointed.
“Up there.”
Ethan stared.
“Security camera?”
“No.”
Victor had warned us the house wasn't safe.
We checked the camera.
Its memory card was missing.
Someone had removed it recently.
Then I noticed a second object beneath the camera.
A tiny red light.
Still blinking.
Live.
I whispered:
“Someone is watching us.”
Ethan immediately grabbed my hand.
We left the basement.
When we reached the foyer, Vanessa was gone.
So was Patricia.
Daniel remained.
He looked at me.
“You should leave.”
I smiled.
“I think that's exactly what you want.”
He didn't respond.
That night, Ethan moved me to a hotel.
He stayed beside me.
Neither of us slept.
At 2:14 a.m., my phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
STOP DIGGING.
Then a photograph.
I opened it.
It showed Ethan sleeping beside me.
The photo had been taken less than a minute earlier.
I sat upright.
Someone had been inside the hotel room.
Ethan woke.
“What happened?”
I handed him the phone.
He stared at the photograph.
His face changed.
“Mom.”
“What?”
He pointed to the corner of the image.
A reflection in the hotel mirror.
A person stood behind the camera.
A woman.
Vanessa.
But something was wrong.
The woman in the reflection wasn't looking at Ethan.
May you like
She was looking directly at me.
And she was smiling.
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