CHAPTER 3: THE MAN WHO NEVER LEFT
The applause came again.
Slow.
Measured.
Mocking.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Victor raised his pistol toward the cracked ceiling.
"Who's there?"
No answer.
Only silence.
Dust drifted through the flashlight beam like gray snow.
Lily held Ethan tightly against her chest.
The little boy buried his face in her shoulder.
"I want Mommy..."
Victor closed his eyes for a single second.
If the woman they had just seen was truly Elena...
Then Ethan's mother might still be alive.
But why had she disappeared again?
And who had triggered the explosion?
The emergency staircase leading back upstairs had partially collapsed.
Victor searched the chamber while security forces surrounded the mansion above.
He wasn't leaving empty-handed.
His flashlight landed on a metal cabinet that had fallen open during the blast.
Inside were dozens of medical files.
Every cover carried the same symbol.
A black raven.
Victor frowned.
He had seen that emblem before.
Years ago.
On documents his father burned in the fireplace after midnight.
Back then, Victor had been only fourteen.
When he asked about it, his father had given him one warning.
"If you ever see the Black Raven again... run."
Victor never forgot those words.
Now the symbol had returned.
Lily picked up one of the folders.
"It's locked."
Every file had a digital code.
Except one.
Someone had already forced it open.
Victor carefully unfolded the yellowed papers.
His expression hardened immediately.
PATIENT NAME: ELENA BLACKWOOD
STATUS: STABLE
DATE: FOUR DAYS AFTER OFFICIAL DEATH CERTIFICATE
Lily covered her mouth.
"They declared her dead... while she was still alive."
Victor continued reading.
His heartbeat accelerated.
AUTHORIZED BY: D. HARTMAN
Victor frowned.
"Derek Hartman..."
The name sounded familiar.
Then he remembered.
Doctor Derek Hartman.
The physician who signed Elena's death certificate.
Victor had personally thanked him after the funeral.
But according to these documents...
Hartman had lied.
Suddenly...
Footsteps echoed somewhere above.
Fast.
Heavy.
More than one person.
Victor looked toward the staircase.
"They're coming."
He grabbed the remaining files.
"Move."
They climbed through broken concrete until they reached Elena's old bedroom.
The mansion looked strangely peaceful.
Almost too peaceful.
Security guards waited outside.
Their captain hurried over.
"Sir!"
Victor looked around.
"Where are the others?"
The captain hesitated.
"What others?"
"The guards I left protecting the west wing."
"They've been at their stations all evening."
Victor stared at him.
"No."
"I ordered six men downstairs twenty minutes ago."
Confusion spread across the captain's face.
"Sir..."
"No one entered this hallway."
Silence.
Victor slowly turned toward Lily.
If no guards had entered...
Then whose footsteps had they heard?
A scream shattered the silence.
One of the maids.
Everyone rushed downstairs.
The mansion's main hall had become chaos.
Guests who had remained after dinner crowded around the grand staircase.
Someone lay on the marble floor.
Victor pushed through the crowd.
His stomach tightened.
It was one of his security officers.
Dead.
Eyes wide open.
No visible injuries.
Only one thing looked unusual.
A black raven feather rested on his chest.
Lily whispered,
"The same symbol..."
Victor knelt beside the body.
Something caught his attention.
The guard's shirt pocket.
Inside was a folded note.
Victor opened it.
Three words.
YOU'RE TOO LATE.
The mansion suddenly echoed with another sound.
The front doors burst open.
An elderly man stumbled inside.
His clothes were soaked from the rain.
His breathing was ragged.
Every servant stared in disbelief.
Victor froze.
"Mr. Harris?"
The old man collapsed onto one knee.
For thirty-five years, Arthur Harris had served the Blackwood family as head butler.
Three years ago...
He disappeared the same night Elena supposedly died.
Police believed he had stolen money before fleeing the country.
Victor had never seen him again.
Until now.
Harris looked ten years older.
His hands shook uncontrollably.
"Sir..."
Victor rushed forward.
"Where have you been?"
The old butler looked around in panic.
"They found me."
"Who?"
"They're already inside."
Victor grabbed his shoulders.
"Tell me everything."
Harris leaned close enough that only Victor could hear.
"It wasn't Elena they wanted."
Victor frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"They wanted Ethan."
Victor's blood froze.
Harris continued.
"The trust."
"It's never been about the money."
"It's about what's hidden beneath the trust."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"What are you talking about?"
Before Harris could answer...
BANG!
A gunshot echoed through the hall.
The old butler jerked violently.
Blood blossomed across his chest.
Lily screamed.
Victor caught Harris before he hit the floor.
Guests scattered in panic.
Security drew their weapons.
Victor looked toward the balcony above.
A shadow disappeared into the darkness.
"After him!"
Several guards sprinted upstairs.
Victor pressed both hands against Harris's wound.
"Stay with me."
The old man struggled to breathe.
"They..."
"Came..."
"For..."
Victor leaned closer.
"For what?"
Harris used the last of his strength to slip something into Victor's hand.
A tiny brass coin.
One side bore the Black Raven emblem.
The other...
A family photograph.
Victor.
Elena.
Baby Ethan.
And one more child.
A little girl.
Victor stared at the image in disbelief.
There had never been another child.
He and Elena had only one son.
Yet the photograph clearly showed Elena holding newborn twins.
Victor looked back at Harris.
"Who is she?"
The old butler smiled sadly.
"You... really... don't remember..."
His eyes lost focus.
His body went still.
Arthur Harris was dead.
The mansion descended into chaos.
Police arrived within minutes.
Guests were escorted outside.
Detectives secured every entrance.
Victor stood alone in his study, staring at the mysterious coin.
Lily entered quietly.
"Sir..."
She placed something on the desk.
"I found this in Ethan's room."
Victor unfolded the paper.
It was a child's drawing.
Crayons.
Stick figures.
One was labeled Daddy.
Another Me.
A third Lily.
And a fourth...
A woman with long black hair standing beside Ethan.
Written above her in careful childish letters were the words:
MY OTHER MOMMY.
Victor's breathing stopped.
He slowly turned toward Lily.
"Ethan drew this today?"
She nodded.
"He said he talks to her every night."
Victor felt the room spin.
If Ethan had truly been seeing a woman in the mansion...
Then someone had been secretly visiting his son's bedroom for weeks.
Or...
May you like
The woman everyone believed was dead had never left the house at all.
END OF CHAPTER 3
