Chapter 6 - The Secret RoomEvelyn was not in the building.
Security confirmed it.
Three minutes after the power failure, she had exited through a maintenance corridor.
But the singing was still coming from upstairs.
Gabriel ordered the guards to search every floor.
Claire held Lily's hand.
They moved through the penthouse.
The voice faded.
Then returned.
Closer.
“Hush now, little sparrow…”
Claire followed it into the library.
No one was there.
But the sound continued.
She noticed the bookshelves.
One book was slightly open.
She pulled it.
The entire shelf shifted.
A hidden doorway appeared.
Gabriel stared.
“I've owned this penthouse for nine years.”
“You didn't know?”
“No.”
Claire stepped inside.
The room beyond was small.
No furniture.
Only shelves.
Boxes.
Photographs.
And dozens of audio tapes.
Lily gasped.
“That's Mommy.”
A photograph showed Elena Varrick holding Lily as a baby.
Beside her stood Evelyn.
And Nora.
Claire picked up another photo.
The three women were outside a hospital.
On the back, someone had written:
Phase Two. The child must believe her father abandoned her.
Claire felt sick.
Gabriel ripped through the boxes.
One contained medical records.
Another contained bank transfers.
Another held a passport.
Claire opened it.
The name made her blood run cold.
Lily Elena Varrick.
Age: four.
Photo: Lily.
Destination: Geneva.
Status: transferred.
Transfer date: three days after the shooting.
Gabriel stared.
“She was legally transferred out of the country.”
“By whom?”
The document was signed.
Evelyn Mercer.
Claire looked at him.
“She didn't just betray you.”
“She had custody authority.”
“How?”
Gabriel's expression changed.
“Someone gave it to her.”
A noise came from the darkness behind them.
Lily screamed.
Gabriel spun.
A woman stood at the far end of the room.
Evelyn.
Pearls.
Cream coat.
A gun in her hand.
“You were never supposed to find this room,” she said.
Gabriel raised his weapon.
Evelyn smiled.
“I wouldn't.”
“Drop it.”
She pressed the gun against her own temple.
Claire froze.
“Gabriel,” Evelyn said softly, “if you shoot me, you'll never learn what happened to Elena.”
Gabriel's hand tightened.
Evelyn looked at Lily.
“Your daughter remembers only one thing correctly.”
“What?”
“The night I sold her.”
Claire felt Lily's fingers become ice cold.
Gabriel's voice cracked.
“You sold my daughter?”
Evelyn nodded.
“To your enemy.”
“Why?”
Evelyn smiled sadly.
“Because you asked me to.”
Gabriel stared.
“I would never.”
“You already did.”
Then Evelyn pulled the trigger.
The gun clicked.
Empty.
She laughed.
It had been a bluff.
Then the lights went out again.
When they came back on, Evelyn was gone.
But she had left one thing behind.
A cassette tape.
May you like
And on its label were five words:
PLAY THIS BEFORE YOU KILL ME.
