CHAPTER 3: THE SCREAM INSIDE THE WALLS
The scream lasted barely two seconds.
Yet it carved through the underground corridor like a knife.
Emily felt every hair on her arms stand upright.
Marcus did not hesitate.
"My God..."
He bolted into the hallway.
"Wait!" Emily shouted.
"It's a trap!"
Marcus froze only for a heartbeat.
"I don't care."
"My sister is in this building."
He sprinted toward the echoing ventilation shaft.
Emily cursed under her breath before chasing after him.
If Isabella truly had the little girl inside the hotel...
Every second mattered.
The hallway twisted through a maze of service corridors.
Laundry carts stood abandoned.
Kitchen workers had vanished.
Even the constant hum of industrial refrigerators seemed strangely absent.
The entire lower level felt...
Empty.
Too empty.
Marcus stopped beneath a large steel ventilation grate.
He looked upward.
The scream had come from somewhere above.
"There."
Emily followed his gaze.
A tiny pink ribbon protruded from the edge of the vent.
Marcus climbed onto a maintenance cart.
His fingers reached through the grate.
He pulled the ribbon free.
It wasn't attached to anyone.
Only tied around...
A stuffed rabbit.
Small.
Dirty.
Its white fur was stained with dust.
One button eye was missing.
Marcus stared at it as though the world had stopped turning.
Emily frowned.
"You recognize it?"
His voice cracked.
"It belongs to Ava."
Emily's stomach dropped.
"Ava?"
"My sister."
He squeezed the rabbit against his chest.
"I gave it to her on her fifth birthday."
Someone had placed it inside the vent.
Deliberately.
A message.
A reminder.
Proof that Isabella wasn't bluffing.
She really had Ava.
A metallic clang echoed somewhere behind them.
Emily spun around.
Nothing.
Marcus lowered the rabbit.
"We have to keep moving."
Before either of them could take another step...
The lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then...
Darkness.
Pitch black.
The emergency generators failed to activate.
Silence swallowed the basement.
Emily couldn't even see her own hand.
"Marcus?"
"I'm here."
His voice came from only a few feet away.
Then another sound.
Footsteps.
Not running.
Walking.
Slow.
Measured.
Click...
Click...
Click...
High heels.
Emily's heartbeat accelerated.
The footsteps echoed through the darkness.
One corridor.
Then another.
Always getting closer.
Neither of them moved.
Neither dared breathe.
The footsteps stopped.
A woman's voice floated through the darkness.
Soft.
Playful.
"You should've stayed upstairs."
Isabella.
Marcus stepped in front of Emily.
"Show yourself."
A quiet laugh answered him.
"You always try to protect people."
"And every time..."
"They die."
Emily felt Marcus tense.
The billionaire spoke through clenched teeth.
"Where is Ava?"
Silence.
Then...
"Still asking the wrong question."
The lights suddenly flashed back on.
The corridor stood empty.
No one there.
Only a single elevator at the end of the hallway.
Its doors slowly slid open.
Inside...
A little girl stood alone.
Barefoot.
Blonde.
Wearing a pink dress.
Marcus gasped.
"Ava!"
The little girl looked directly at him.
"Marcus..."
Her tiny voice trembled.
"Help me..."
Marcus took one step.
Emily grabbed his arm.
"Something's wrong."
He pulled away.
"That's my sister."
"Look carefully."
Marcus hesitated.
Emily narrowed her eyes.
The girl never blinked.
Not once.
She simply stood there.
Perfectly still.
Almost...
Like a photograph.
The elevator doors began closing.
"Ava!"
Marcus lunged forward.
The doors shut.
The elevator started rising.
Marcus smashed the call button repeatedly.
Nothing.
The display remained blank.
No floor numbers.
No movement indicator.
As if the elevator no longer existed.
Emily slowly backed away.
"I don't think..."
She stopped speaking.
The hallway map mounted beside the elevator caught her attention.
She stared at it.
Then looked again.
Her face turned pale.
"What is it?" Marcus asked.
She pointed.
"There isn't supposed to be an elevator here."
Marcus frowned.
"What?"
"The blueprint."
She traced the building layout with a trembling finger.
"This entire wall..."
"...is solid concrete."
Marcus stared.
She was right.
According to the emergency evacuation map...
No elevator had ever been built in that location.
Both of them slowly turned toward the wall.
The steel doors were gone.
Only smooth concrete remained.
As though they had imagined everything.
Marcus whispered,
"That's impossible."
Emily touched the wall.
Cold.
Solid.
Real.
She stepped backward.
"We need to leave."
Before Marcus could answer...
A loud beep came from Emily's phone.
Battery: 9%.
Another notification appeared.
Cloud Upload Complete.
Emily exhaled in relief.
The video had successfully uploaded.
Finally...
Evidence that couldn't simply disappear.
Then another notification appeared beneath it.
Unknown Sender.
One attachment.
A photograph.
Emily opened it.
Her blood froze.
The picture showed...
Her apartment.
Taken only minutes ago.
The front door stood open.
Every room had been destroyed.
Furniture overturned.
Glass shattered.
Her laptop smashed.
Across the living room wall, someone had painted six enormous words in fresh red paint.
WE KNOW WHERE YOUR MOTHER LIVES.
Emily's hands began shaking uncontrollably.
Marcus looked over her shoulder.
His expression hardened.
"They're escalating."
"My mom..."
Emily whispered.
"She doesn't know any of this."
Another message arrived instantly.
No number.
No name.
Only text.
Bring the phone to Suite 2701. Come alone.
One hour.
Or she dies first.
Emily looked at Marcus.
He already knew what she was thinking.
"You can't go."
"I have to."
"It's exactly what Isabella wants."
"If I don't..."
Emily couldn't finish the sentence.
Marcus reached into the inside pocket of his tuxedo jacket.
He removed something no bigger than a car key.
A tiny black tracking device.
He pressed it into Emily's hand.
"If you insist on walking into the lion's den..."
"...don't walk in alone."
Emily stared at the device.
"What is this?"
Marcus gave a grim smile.
"The only reason I'm still alive."
Before she could ask another question...
Every television screen mounted along the basement corridor suddenly switched on at the exact same moment.
Static.
Then Isabella's smiling face filled every monitor.
She wore the same flawless white wedding dress.
The same perfect makeup.
But her smile...
It was different now.
No cameras.
No guests.
No mask.
She looked straight into the lens.
Straight at Emily.
Straight at Marcus.
Then she slowly raised a champagne glass.
"Congratulations."
"You've both survived longer..."
"...than the others."
She took a delicate sip.
Then smiled even wider.
"But the game..."
"...doesn't truly begin..."
"...until someone loses everything."
The screens went black.
A second later...
The hotel fire alarm erupted throughout the building.
Red emergency lights flooded every corridor.
Sprinklers exploded overhead.
Water poured from the ceiling.
Guests began screaming upstairs.
Somewhere above them, chaos had finally begun.
And hidden beneath the deafening alarm...
May you like
Neither Emily nor Marcus noticed the tiny blinking red light that had just activated...
Inside the stuffed rabbit Marcus was still holding.
