Chapter 9 - THE RULES OF THE GAMEArthur nearly destroyed the phone in his hand.
He demanded police support.
But the message contained another warning.
ONE POLICE OFFICER WILL DIE IF YOU COME WITH THEM.
Mason believed it was a bluff.
Claire didn't.
“I've seen this before.”
She looked at Arthur.
“They always make you choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Your son.”
Claire pointed at Elena.
“And your daughter.”
Arthur's face hardened.
“I'm not choosing.”
The next message arrived.
TOMORROW. 11:45 PM. THE WALL. COME ALONE.
Mason traced the signal.
It bounced through six networks.
Impossible to locate.
Arthur began searching the mansion for another hidden chamber.
Elena stayed with Claire.
For the first time, she asked questions about her childhood.
Claire remembered everything.
Elena had loved music.
She used to dance around the kitchen.
She hated thunder.
She always held Claire's left hand when frightened.
Elena listened silently.
Then she asked:
“Why did you let me believe I was nobody?”
Claire cried.
“Because I believed being nobody would keep you alive.”
Arthur overheard.
He approached.
“I failed both of you.”
Claire looked at him.
“You believed your father.”
“I didn't know.”
“You never asked.”
Arthur had no answer.
Mason returned with disturbing news.
Thomas's death was not random.
He had been strangled.
Before dying, he left a message carved into the warehouse wall:
THE THIRD DOOR.
Arthur knew what it meant.
There were three concealed passages in the mansion.
They had found two.
The third was somewhere beneath the main hall.
Elena remembered the old American flag painting.
The wall where Leo had been trapped.
Mason ordered the area searched again.
Behind the plaster, they found a steel door.
It had no handle.
A keypad.
Arthur entered his birthday.
Wrong.
Claire tried hers.
Wrong.
Elena stared at the keys.
There were six numbers.
Something in her memory resurfaced.
A lullaby.
The melody Claire used to sing.
The rhythm matched six taps.
Elena pressed:
1-4-2-6-3-8.
Click.
The door opened.
Inside was a surveillance center.
Screens covered every wall.
Every room of the mansion was being monitored.
Bedrooms.
Kitchen.
Study.
Hallways.
Even outdoor cameras.
And on one screen was Elena.
Sleeping.
Another showed Leo.
Playing in the garden.
Another showed Arthur.
Arguing with Victoria.
Whoever had installed the system had been watching them for years.
Mason found a central computer.
He opened the files.
There were folders labeled:
ELENA
LEO
ARTHUR
VICTORIA
And one final folder:
CLAIRE
Elena opened it.
Hundreds of recordings.
Some dated only weeks earlier.
Claire was being watched too.
Then one file appeared.
Recorded the previous night.
Victoria was speaking to a man.
Daniel.
They were standing inside the mansion.
Victoria looked frightened.
Daniel said:
“You failed.”
Victoria whispered:
“She found the wall.”
Daniel replied:
“Then kill her.”
Elena's blood ran cold.
The recording continued.
Victoria shook her head.
“I can't.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“You owe me.”
Victoria whispered:
“I owe Claire.”
Daniel slapped her.
Then he said something that made everyone freeze.
“Claire isn't the one who matters anymore.”
He looked directly toward the hidden camera.
“She never told them about the basement.”
The recording ended.
Arthur looked at Claire.
“What basement?”
Claire's face went pale.
“There was one place your father never let me enter.”
Mason asked:
“Where?”
Claire looked toward the floor.
“Underneath the mansion.”
A noise suddenly came through the speakers.
A child's cry.
Leo.
Arthur grabbed the console.
“Leo!”
The sound repeated.
Then another voice whispered.
“Bring Mara.”
The monitors all switched to the same image.
A dark room.
Leo tied to a chair.
Next to him was an old wooden door.
And beside that door stood Victoria.
She raised her finger to her lips.
May you like
Then mouthed:
Don't trust Claire.
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