Chapter 8: The Secret Beneath the Chapel
The photograph spread through Mercer Manor like wildfire.
Emma's bright smile.
The piano.
The exact angle of the room.
Someone had taken it less than five minutes earlier.
From inside the estate.
Yet every entrance had been sealed since dawn.
Hayes immediately issued new orders.
"Nobody leaves."
"Nobody enters."
"Search every room."
"Every phone."
"Every security log."
Within seconds, the mansion became a hive of controlled urgency.
Julian looked at the message again.
You protected her once. Try doing it again.
One word bothered him.
Once.
He turned to Arthur.
"They know about Isabella."
Arthur nodded grimly.
"They know far more than we do."
Hayes began interviewing every member of the household staff.
Thirty-eight employees.
Housekeepers.
Gardeners.
Cooks.
Drivers.
Maintenance workers.
Every answer was carefully documented.
Every phone was inspected.
Nothing.
No suspicious photos.
No hidden applications.
No unexplained messages.
It was as if the photograph had appeared out of thin air.
Claire watched the interviews nervously.
Emma sat beside her, quietly drawing with colored pencils.
She sketched a house.
A smiling woman.
A little girl holding an elephant.
Then she added another figure.
Tall.
Wearing a black suit.
Julian.
Claire smiled.
"Who's that?"
Emma answered without looking up.
"The serious man."
Claire laughed softly.
"Is he part of the family now?"
Emma thought for a moment.
"He looks lonely."
"So... yes."
Claire's smile faded.
She remembered the letter.
"Do not trust anyone until you find Julian Mercer."
She had found him.
But could she trust everyone around him?
Hayes entered the room.
"Sir."
Julian looked up.
"We've searched the east wing."
"Nothing."
"The west wing?"
"Nothing."
"The roof?"
"Nothing."
Arthur slowly walked toward the mansion's original architectural blueprint hanging on the wall.
He studied it quietly.
Then his eyes narrowed.
"This drawing..."
Hayes approached.
"What is it?"
Arthur pointed toward a small section beneath the estate.
"There's a level missing."
Julian frowned.
"What level?"
Arthur looked surprised himself.
"There used to be a tunnel."
Samuel overheard the conversation.
His face changed instantly.
"The chapel..."
Arthur looked at him.
"You remember."
Samuel nodded slowly.
"My father told me."
"When the mansion was built nearly a century ago..."
"...a passage connected the private chapel to the wine cellar."
Arthur finished the thought.
"It was sealed after the war."
Samuel hesitated.
"Officially."
Within minutes...
Arthur, Julian, Hayes, Samuel, and Claire stood inside the estate's old stone chapel.
It had not been used regularly for years.
Dust covered the wooden pews.
Colored light streamed through stained-glass windows depicting angels.
Emma looked around in fascination.
"It's pretty."
Samuel smiled.
"It used to be full every Sunday."
Emma walked toward a marble statue.
"Who's she?"
"The Virgin Mary."
Emma nodded politely.
"Hello."
Arthur couldn't help smiling.
Hayes examined the floor.
"According to the blueprint..."
"...the entrance should be here."
Nothing.
Solid stone.
Julian ran his fingers along the altar.
Smooth.
Too smooth.
Then Emma wandered behind the altar.
She frowned.
"Why's this angel missing a wing?"
Everyone turned.
One carved angel on the wall indeed had only one wing.
Emma touched it curiously.
The statue clicked.
A deep rumble echoed through the chapel.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The marble floor slowly shifted.
A hidden staircase emerged from beneath the altar.
Silence.
Hayes looked at Arthur.
"You knew about this?"
Arthur shook his head.
"I knew it existed."
"I never found it."
Emma looked delighted.
"It's a secret door!"
Hayes drew his pistol.
Two security officers switched on flashlights.
Julian looked at Claire.
"You and Emma stay here."
Emma immediately protested.
"I want to help!"
Julian crouched beside her.
"This is an important job."
"What job?"
"Protect your mommy."
Emma considered that.
Then nodded seriously.
"I can do that."
Julian, Arthur, Hayes, and two officers descended the narrow stone staircase.
The air below was cold.
Stale.
Untouched for years.
Cobwebs stretched across the ceiling.
Ancient wooden beams supported the tunnel.
After nearly fifty meters...
The passage widened into an underground chamber.
Rows of dusty shelves lined the walls.
Old documents.
Locked chests.
Faded paintings.
The forgotten archive of the Mercer family.
Arthur whispered,
"I thought all this was destroyed."
Hayes swept his flashlight across the room.
Then stopped.
"There."
Fresh footprints.
Not dusty.
Someone had been there recently.
The footprints led toward a steel cabinet.
Unlike everything else underground...
It looked modern.
Hayes carefully opened it.
Inside...
Nothing.
Except a single envelope.
Addressed by hand.
For Julian Mercer
Julian opened it carefully.
One sheet of paper.
One sentence.
You're finally looking in the right place.
Nothing else.
Hayes searched the cabinet.
Hidden beneath the bottom panel...
He found a flash drive.
Arthur looked toward Julian.
"This wasn't left by accident."
Julian nodded.
"It's bait."
Back upstairs...
Emma wandered near the chapel entrance while Claire spoke quietly with Samuel.
She noticed something shiny beneath one of the old pews.
A silver necklace.
Tiny.
Broken.
She picked it up.
It had a small moon-shaped pendant.
"Mommy?"
Claire turned.
"What did you find?"
Emma handed it over.
The moment Claire saw the pendant...
She froze.
She had seen it before.
Three years earlier.
Around the neck of the wounded woman beneath Riverside Bridge.
The woman who had handed her the baby.
Claire's heart began pounding.
"Arthur..."
Her voice echoed into the hidden passage.
Julian and the others hurried back upstairs.
Claire held out the necklace with trembling hands.
Arthur's eyes widened.
"I gave this..."
"...to Isabella."
Julian slowly took the pendant.
He turned it over.
On the back, beneath years of scratches, were two engraved letters.
A.M.
Aurora Mercer.
Julian closed his fist around the necklace.
For years, he had forced himself to believe his daughter was gone.
Now...
Every new discovery made that belief harder to hold.
Hayes interrupted the silence.
"Sir..."
"The flash drive."
Julian looked at it.
"If this is a trap..."
Arthur nodded.
"It probably is."
"But it's also the first real lead we've had in three years."
Julian handed the drive to Hayes.
"Open it."
"Not here."
"Use an isolated system."
"No network."
"No external connection."
Hayes nodded.
"I'll have the cyber team analyze it immediately."
As he turned to leave, his secure phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed within seconds.
"What happened?" Julian asked.
Hayes lowered the phone slowly.
"Our cyber team..."
He swallowed.
"...never received the flash drive."
Julian frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Hayes looked down at his own hand.
The evidence bag was still sealed.
Still unopened.
Yet...
The flash drive inside had vanished.
Only a single folded note remained.
Hayes carefully unfolded it.
In neat black ink, it read:
May you like
You are still one move behind.
End of Chapter 8
