CHAPTER 6 The Man in the Shadows
The iron door slammed shut with a deafening BANG!
Darkness swallowed the room.
Someone screamed.
Flashlights darted wildly across the walls as officers reached for their weapons.
"Police! Don't move!"
No answer.
Only silence.
Then...
Click.
The emergency lights flickered on, bathing the room in a dim red glow.
Detective Brooks lunged toward the door.
"Open it!"
Three officers threw their weight against the iron slab.
It refused to budge.
"It locked from the outside!"
William's heart pounded.
"Who's out there?"
No response.
Then came footsteps.
Slow.
Measured.
Walking away.
Not running.
Whoever it was knew the tunnels better than anyone inside.
"Break it!" Brooks shouted.
A tactical officer swung the battering ram.
Once.
Twice.
On the third strike, the lock snapped.
The door burst open.
The corridor beyond was empty.
A Fresh Trail
Brooks knelt, sweeping his flashlight across the stone floor.
"There."
Fresh footprints.
Still damp.
Not from water.
From mud.
Whoever had been standing outside had come from somewhere deeper beneath the estate.
The prints disappeared around a bend.
"Move!"
The tactical team advanced.
William followed despite Brooks' protests.
"I've already lost one family," William said through clenched teeth.
"I'm not losing another."
The Underground Office
The tunnel ended at a steel security door unlike anything else below the mansion.
A keypad.
Fingerprint scanner.
Modern surveillance cameras.
Brooks frowned.
"This wasn't built twenty years ago."
"No," William whispered.
"It was built recently."
Someone had expanded the hidden tunnels.
The keypad screen was still glowing.
ACCESS GRANTED
"Whoever ran..."
"...just went through."
An officer forced the door open.
Inside was not a dungeon.
It was an office.
Modern.
Spotlessly clean.
Six computer monitors lined one wall.
Shelves held hundreds of neatly labeled files.
Maps of the Sterling estate covered another wall.
Every hallway.
Every hidden passage.
Every camera.
William's stomach turned.
Someone had been watching the family.
For years.
Every Camera
One monitor was still active.
Dozens of surveillance feeds filled the screens.
The ballroom.
The kitchen.
The gardens.
William's bedroom.
Ethan's room.
Even...
the nursery.
Brooks' expression darkened.
"This house is covered in illegal cameras."
Then another officer spoke.
"Detective..."
He pointed to the largest screen.
It wasn't showing live footage.
It was displaying a timeline.
Folders.
Years arranged in order.
All the way to...
Twenty-eight years of surveillance.
William felt sick.
"My entire life..."
"...someone recorded everything."
The Journal
I walked toward a wooden desk.
Unlike the sterile electronics, it held something old-fashioned.
A leather-bound journal.
Its cover was cracked with age.
Embossed in gold letters:
L.S.
William stared.
"Lucas Sterling."
He carefully opened it.
The first pages contained childish handwriting.
Today Dad taught me chess.
Lily cheated again.
William says he'll always protect us.
William stopped breathing.
He had no memory of this.
None.
He turned more pages.
The handwriting matured.
The cheerful entries disappeared.
Replacing them were darker notes.
June 14
Father cried today.
I heard men arguing downstairs.
They kept saying only one heir could remain.
July 2
Hawthorne told me to hide.
He looked terrified.
July 9
Someone took Lily.
She screamed for Dad.
Nobody came.
William swallowed hard.
His eyes blurred with tears.
The Last Entry
The final page had been written in a completely different handwriting.
Older.
Steadier.
The ink looked fresh.
Only days old.
William read aloud.
If you're reading this...
Then I failed to stop them before they reached Ethan.
I am Lucas.
Yes...
I survived.
Nobody moved.
The room became utterly silent.
Brooks slowly looked at William.
"It really is him."
William kept reading.
Father didn't abandon us.
He tried to save us.
He died before he could expose them.
The Family Council killed him.
Brooks looked up sharply.
"Killed?"
William's hands trembled.
"His heart attack..."
"...wasn't a heart attack."
Isabella's Role
William hurried through the next pages.
Each sentence shattered another piece of his life.
Isabella never created this nightmare.
She married into it.
I looked at William.
His face had turned pale.
The journal continued.
She made terrible choices.
She became cruel.
But she believed she was protecting you.
Brooks frowned.
"Protecting him?"
William shook his head.
"It doesn't make sense."
"It will."
A voice echoed through the office.
Everyone spun around.
The sound hadn't come from the tunnel.
It came through the speakers mounted in the ceiling.
A calm male voice.
Deep.
Controlled.
"I wondered how long it would take."
William's eyes widened.
"Lucas?"
A quiet chuckle answered.
"You still recognize my voice."
William whispered,
"I don't remember your voice."
"I know."
"You were made to forget."
Brooks scanned the room.
"Trace the signal!"
Technicians rushed to the computers.
The voice continued.
"I don't have much time."
"They know you've found the tunnels."
William stepped toward the speaker.
"Where are you?"
"Close."
"Come out!"
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because they're already inside the house."
Every officer instinctively looked toward the monitors.
One camera showed the grand ballroom.
Empty.
Another showed the kitchen.
Staff being questioned.
Another...
showed the nursery.
A figure in black quietly entered Ethan's bedroom.
Brooks pointed.
"Zoom in!"
The camera enlarged.
The intruder wore black gloves.
A hood.
Face hidden.
He walked calmly toward Ethan's bed.
Then reached beneath the mattress.
He removed...
a small black box.
William frowned.
"What is that?"
Lucas answered immediately.
"The evidence."
"What evidence?"
"The recording your father made before he died."
William froze.
"My father left another recording?"
"Yes."
"And if they destroy it..."
"...everything ends tonight."
The figure tucked the box beneath his arm and headed for the bedroom door.
"Stop him!" Brooks shouted.
Officers sprinted from the underground office toward the mansion.
William followed.
The camera tracked the intruder as he walked into the hallway.
Then...
He suddenly stopped.
Very slowly...
He turned his head.
And looked directly into the hidden camera.
Although his face remained concealed, he lifted one gloved hand...
And gave a slow, deliberate wave.
Then he reached up...
Pulled back his hood...
And the screen froze.
William's knees nearly gave out.
The face staring back from the monitor...
May you like
Was his own.
END OF CHAPTER 6
