CHAPTER 1 THE KNOCKING BEHIND THE WALL
The cellar door slammed shut behind Dominic Vale.
For three seconds, nobody spoke.
The only sound was Harper's sobbing as she clung to her mother.
Mia Carter was alive.
Barely.
Dominic knelt beside her and pressed two fingers against her neck.
A pulse.
Weak.
But steady.
“Marcus,” he said.
His head of security immediately stepped forward.
“Call the doctor. Now.”
Marcus pulled out his phone.
“Already doing it.”
Dominic looked down at Mia.
Three days.
Three days locked inside a freezing cellar.
Her lips were cracked. Her wrists were bruised where the ropes had cut into her skin. There were dark circles beneath her eyes, and her uniform was stained with dirt.
But something bothered Dominic.
She wasn't looking at him.
She was looking at Nathan.
Nathan Cross stood in the doorway.
Motionless.
His face was pale.
Dominic slowly rose.
“Nathan.”
His oldest friend swallowed.
“Dom…”
“Who tied her up?”
“I don't know.”
The answer came too quickly.
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
“Who put the lock on this door?”
Nathan didn't answer.
Dominic took one step toward him.
“I asked you a question.”
Nathan finally looked directly at him.
“Claire.”
The name hung in the cold air.
Claire Bennett.
Dominic's fiancée.
The woman who was supposed to become the future Mrs. Vale in less than six weeks.
Harper suddenly stopped crying.
She lifted her head from her mother's chest.
“Mr. Vale…”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Harper pointed toward the back wall.
“There.”
Everyone looked.
At first, Dominic saw nothing.
Just rows of wine bottles.
Wooden shelves.
Stone walls.
Old pipes.
Then Harper walked toward the far corner.
She pointed at a section of brick hidden behind the wine rack.
“Mommy was knocking from there too.”
Mia's eyes widened.
“No.”
Her voice was barely audible.
Dominic turned toward her.
“What?”
Mia shook her head.
“No… don't open it.”
That stopped him.
“Why?”
Mia stared at the wall.
“Because that's what they wanted me to find.”
Dominic's expression hardened.
“Who?”
Mia's breathing became faster.
“I don't know.”
“You've been locked down here for three days. You saw who brought you here.”
“I saw Claire.”
Nathan's jaw tightened.
Mia continued.
“She told me Dominic knew everything.”
Dominic froze.
“What did she say?”
“She said you were angry with me.”
“I wasn't.”
“I know.”
Mia looked at him.
“But I believed her.”
Dominic's fists tightened.
“What happened after Claire brought you downstairs?”
Mia hesitated.
“She wasn't alone.”
Nathan suddenly stepped forward.
“That's enough.”
Dominic's head snapped toward him.
“You don't decide when she's finished talking.”
Nathan stopped.
Mia stared at Nathan.
Fear returned to her eyes.
Dominic noticed.
That fear wasn't directed at Claire.
It was directed at Nathan.
Dominic turned to Marcus.
“Get everyone out.”
Marcus nodded.
“Everyone?”
“Everyone except Nathan.”
Nathan's expression changed.
“Dom, that's ridiculous.”
“Get them out.”
Within seconds, the security team escorted Harper and Mia toward the stairs.
Harper refused to leave her mother.
Dominic crouched beside her.
“Your mother needs a doctor.”
“I want to stay.”
“You're going with her.”
Harper looked at him.
Then whispered:
“Don't trust Mr. Nathan.”
Dominic went still.
Nathan heard her.
For the first time in seventeen years, Dominic saw genuine fear on his friend's face.
The door closed.
Silence returned.
Dominic and Nathan stood alone inside the cellar.
“You're going to tell me everything,” Dominic said.
Nathan rubbed his jaw.
“You're exhausted.”
“I'm not.”
“You've been traveling for seven days.”
“I've been lied to for three.”
Nathan stared at him.
Dominic stepped closer.
“Why was Mia locked down here?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did Claire tell everyone she went to Pennsylvania?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did you lie about the lock?”
“I didn't lie.”
“You said Claire put it here to protect the wine.”
“Yes.”
“Then why is Claire's fingerprint absent from the lock?”
Nathan's face changed.
Dominic held up his phone.
Marcus had already sent him the preliminary security report.
Nathan stared at the screen.
Dominic smiled without warmth.
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
“Nothing in my house happens without a record.”
Nathan's silence lasted too long.
Dominic turned toward the wall.
“What's behind that?”
“Old storage.”
“Open it.”
Nathan didn't move.
“Dom.”
“Open it.”
“There's nothing there.”
Dominic looked back at him.
“You just made the mistake of telling me that.”
He walked toward the wine rack.
Nathan's voice hardened.
“Don't.”
Dominic stopped.
Slowly, he turned.
“Excuse me?”
Nathan looked at the wall.
Then at Dominic.
“You don't know what you're doing.”
“Then explain.”
Nathan said nothing.
Dominic grabbed the wine rack.
With a violent pull, the wooden structure shifted.
Behind it was a narrow steel panel.
Not brick.
Not stone.
Steel.
And on the center of it was a keypad.
Dominic stared.
His estate was built more than a century ago.
That panel hadn't been there yesterday.
Or rather…
He had never known it was there.
Nathan whispered:
“Dom, listen to me.”
Dominic ignored him.
He examined the keypad.
Four digits.
A small red light blinked.
Someone had used it recently.
Dominic turned.
“What's the code?”
Nathan's face had gone completely white.
“I don't know.”
Dominic drew his gun.
“Last chance.”
Nathan stared at the weapon.
“You're making a mistake.”
“Maybe.”
Dominic pointed the barrel toward the keypad.
“But I'm done making the same mistake.”
He fired.
The keypad exploded.
The steel panel clicked.
Then slowly opened.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Cold air rushed upward.
But this cold was different.
It carried a smell.
Smoke.
Oil.
And something metallic.
Blood.
Dominic stepped down.
Nathan stayed behind.
“Dom.”
Dominic didn't stop.
At the bottom of the staircase was a small underground room.
There was a desk.
A computer.
Three monitors.
Stacks of documents.
Photographs.
Passports.
Bank records.
Dominic's footsteps stopped.
One wall was covered with photographs of his family.
His father.
His mother.
His childhood home.
His business partners.
His employees.
Even Harper.
Someone had been watching them.
For years.
Dominic walked closer.
Then he saw something that made his blood run cold.
A photograph of himself.
Taken that morning.
At the airport.
Another photograph showed him entering his estate three hours earlier.
Another showed Harper standing on the marble staircase.
The pictures were fresh.
Someone had been watching him tonight.
Dominic picked up a folder.
His name was written across it.
DOMINIC VALE
He opened it.
The first page contained his financial records.
The second contained his security routes.
The third contained something far more disturbing.
A family tree.
Dominic stared.
His father's name was at the top.
Below it was his mother's.
Then his own.
But underneath his name was another entry.
A name he had never seen before.
ELIAS VALE.
Dominic's breathing stopped.
Nathan appeared at the bottom of the stairs.
“Dom…”
Dominic turned.
“What is Elias Vale?”
Nathan didn't answer.
Dominic raised the folder.
“Who is he?”
Nathan's silence was enough.
Dominic's eyes darkened.
“Tell me.”
Nathan finally whispered:
“Your brother.”
The room seemed to disappear.
Dominic stared at him.
“I don't have a brother.”
Nathan's face twisted with something that looked almost like regret.
“You were never supposed to know.”
Dominic took one step forward.
“Where is he?”
Nathan looked toward the final door at the end of the underground room.
Then he whispered:
“He's been living beneath your house for seventeen years.”
Behind them…
Something knocked.
Three slow knocks.
From inside the wall.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Dominic turned toward the sound.
Nathan closed his eyes.
May you like
And for the first time in seventeen years, Dominic realized his oldest friend wasn't afraid of him.
Nathan was afraid of whoever was behind that door.
