CHAPTER 3: THE KIDNAPPER INSIDE THE MANSION
Arthur didn't wait for another word.
He sprinted out of the security room.
The sound of polished shoes pounding against marble echoed through the mansion like gunfire.
Marcus and six armed security officers raced after him.
Victoria followed several steps behind.
Not because she wanted to help.
Because if Emily had really been kidnapped...
Everything had just become infinitely more dangerous.
Dr. Lawson's examination suite looked like a battlefield.
Medical instruments lay scattered across the floor.
One window had been shattered outward.
Curtains fluttered violently in the cold night air.
Margaret lay unconscious beside the examination table.
Blood trickled from a cut above her eyebrow.
Arthur dropped beside her.
"Margaret!"
No response.
Dr. Lawson checked her pulse.
"She's alive."
"Severe concussion."
Arthur looked around the room.
Emily's tiny pink slippers were still beside the examination bed.
She had left barefoot.
His stomach twisted.
Marcus walked to the broken window.
He frowned.
"Sir..."
Arthur stood.
"What is it?"
Marcus pointed toward the garden below.
"There are no footprints."
Arthur stared.
The lawn was soaked from heavy rain only an hour earlier.
Anyone climbing through the window should have left deep impressions.
There were none.
Not a single one.
Marcus looked back.
"The kidnapper didn't leave this way."
Arthur slowly turned toward the shattered glass.
"They wanted us to think they did."
One security officer hurried inside.
"Sir!"
Arthur faced him.
"We've sealed every gate."
"No vehicles have entered or exited."
"Thermal cameras show nobody crossing the outer walls."
Marcus finished the thought.
"Which means..."
Arthur answered.
"The kidnapper is still inside the mansion."
The room fell silent.
More than seventy people were currently inside the estate.
Family members.
Housekeepers.
Chefs.
Drivers.
Gardeners.
Security staff.
Private nurses.
Any one of them...
Could be holding Emily.
Arthur's voice cut through the silence.
"Lock down the entire property."
"No exceptions."
Marcus immediately relayed the order.
Steel security doors descended over every exit.
Electronic locks engaged with heavy metallic clicks.
Within seconds, the Carter estate became a fortress.
No one could leave.
No one could enter.
Victoria folded her arms.
"This is insane."
Arthur didn't even look at her.
"We're imprisoning innocent people."
Still nothing.
"You can't search everyone without evidence."
Arthur finally turned.
"My daughter is missing."
"That is my evidence."
Victoria bit her lip.
She had never seen him like this.
Not once in their four years of marriage.
Upstairs...
Hidden behind an old linen closet...
A tiny hand covered a trembling mouth.
Emily.
She was alive.
Tears streamed silently down her face.
She had heard everything.
Daddy was looking for her.
She wanted to run.
She wanted to scream.
But she remembered the whisper.
"If you make a sound..."
"...your father dies."
The voice echoed inside her head.
She squeezed her eyes shut.
Trying not to cry.
Meanwhile...
Marcus gathered every employee inside the grand ballroom.
Nearly eighty people stood shoulder to shoulder.
Fear spread rapidly.
Arthur entered last.
His suit was still soaked from the bathroom.
His expression made the room colder than winter.
He climbed onto the stage.
"My daughter has been taken."
Gasps spread through the crowd.
"The person responsible is still inside this house."
Whispers erupted instantly.
Arthur raised one hand.
Silence returned.
"No one leaves."
"No phones."
"No private conversations."
"Every room will be searched."
"If you're innocent..."
"You have nothing to fear."
Victoria watched the employees carefully.
Most looked frightened.
One looked terrified.
A young housekeeper.
Maybe twenty years old.
She kept staring at the floor.
Sweat rolled down her forehead.
Arthur noticed immediately.
"You."
She jumped.
"What is your name?"
"S... Sarah."
"Look at me."
She slowly lifted her eyes.
Arthur spoke quietly.
"Why are you shaking?"
"I... I'm scared."
"Of what?"
No answer.
Marcus stepped closer.
"Sir..."
Arthur nodded once.
"Bring her."
Sarah suddenly burst into tears.
"I didn't do anything!"
Marcus gently guided her away.
Victoria frowned.
Something wasn't right.
Ten minutes later...
Marcus returned.
"Sir."
Arthur looked up.
"She confessed."
Victoria's heart skipped.
Confessed?
Marcus continued.
"She admitted someone paid her."
Arthur's eyes hardened.
"Who?"
"She doesn't know."
"What do you mean she doesn't know?"
Marcus placed a small envelope on the table.
"Three days ago she found this in her locker."
Arthur opened it.
Inside...
Ten thousand dollars in cash.
Along with a handwritten instruction.
"When the power goes out..."
"Open the examination room window."
"Ask no questions."
Victoria stared.
Sarah hadn't kidnapped Emily.
She had only opened the window.
Someone else had planned everything.
Weeks in advance.
Arthur examined the note.
No fingerprints.
Typed letters cut from magazines.
Professional.
Calculated.
Marcus spoke.
"There's something else."
Arthur looked up.
"We checked every security camera."
"And?"
Marcus hesitated.
"We found one blind spot."
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
"Where?"
Marcus answered with obvious reluctance.
"The old east wing."
Arthur's face changed instantly.
The east wing.
Closed for almost ten years.
No employees lived there.
No guests entered.
Most of the rooms remained locked after Arthur's first wife died.
Victoria suddenly looked away.
Arthur noticed.
"You've been there."
She shook her head.
"No."
"You just lied."
"I didn't."
"You looked at the floor."
"So?"
"You always do that."
Victoria froze.
Arthur knew.
Every time she lied...
She avoided eye contact.
He had ignored it for years.
Not anymore.
Arthur drew a slow breath.
"Marcus."
"Yes, sir."
"Take twelve officers."
"We're searching the east wing."
The abandoned hallway smelled of dust and old wood.
Portraits of Arthur's ancestors lined the walls.
Most were covered by white sheets.
Flashlights pierced the darkness.
Every footstep echoed.
One officer stopped.
"Sir..."
Arthur turned.
The man pointed toward the floor.
Tiny wet footprints.
Bare feet.
Small enough to belong to a child.
Emily.
Arthur knelt.
The prints were fresh.
Only minutes old.
His heartbeat quickened.
"They came through here."
The officers raised their weapons.
Marcus whispered,
"Move carefully."
The trail ended outside a locked nursery.
Arthur frowned.
"This room..."
He hadn't entered it in years.
It had belonged to Emily's mother before cancer took her life.
The key still hung exactly where it always had.
Arthur unlocked the door himself.
The hinges creaked open.
Moonlight spilled across faded toys.
A rocking horse.
Tiny books.
A music box.
Everything exactly as it had been left years ago.
Except...
One thing.
The rocking chair near the window was moving.
Slowly.
Back.
And forth.
As though someone had stood up only seconds earlier.
Arthur stepped forward cautiously.
Then he saw it.
A single stuffed rabbit lying on the chair.
Emily never slept without it.
He picked it up.
Tucked beneath it was another handwritten note.
Arthur unfolded the paper.
His expression darkened with every line.
When Marcus asked what it said...
Arthur answered in a whisper.
"You're searching the wrong parent."
May you like
At that exact moment, a child's frightened voice echoed from somewhere inside the walls.
"Daddy..."
