Chapter 3 - The ballroom emptied in less than two minutes.Guests fled through the side exits while security locked down every corridor.
Vincent ordered everyone to stay away from the hidden door.
But Emma couldn't stop staring at it.
Someone was trapped underneath.
Someone who knew her father's name.
Someone who had somehow entered the mansion without being seen.
Vincent crouched beside the carpet.
“Bring the master key.”
A guard hurried over.
Before he could unlock the mechanism, the knocking stopped.
Silence.
Vincent looked at Emma.
“Stay behind me.”
She nodded.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Cold air rose from below.
Emma shivered.
“What is this place?”
Isabella whispered,
“It was sealed twenty years ago.”
Vincent looked at her.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I promised Daniel.”
Emma stepped closer.
“You knew this existed?”
Isabella nodded.
“Your father discovered it.”
The three of them descended.
At the bottom was a narrow corridor lined with old filing cabinets.
Vincent turned on his flashlight.
Most cabinets were empty.
One was not.
A red file sat on a metal shelf.
Emma saw her father's name.
DANIEL CARTER.
She reached for it.
Vincent stopped her.
“Wait.”
He opened it first.
Inside were bank statements, photographs, copies of contracts.
Then he found something else.
A hospital record.
Emma read the name.
Isabella Moretti.
She looked confused.
“This isn't my father's file.”
Vincent scanned the document.
His face hardened.
“What?”
He handed it to Emma.
The record showed Isabella had been admitted to a private psychiatric facility twenty-two years ago.
But the date was impossible.
Isabella had been photographed at a charity gala that same week.
“You weren't in a hospital.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why does this say you were?”
She looked terrified.
“Because someone wanted everyone to believe I was.”
Vincent turned toward the corridor.
“Mother, what happened twenty-two years ago?”
Isabella's lips trembled.
“I saw something.”
“What?”
“Your father wasn't taken because of the money.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“Then why?”
Isabella stared at the red file.
“He found out someone was planning to kill Vincent.”
Vincent froze.
“Who?”
Isabella looked at him.
“You.”
The corridor went silent.
Emma stepped backward.
“Your father knew?”
“He knew someone inside the family wanted Vincent dead.”
“Who?”
Isabella opened her mouth.
A loud metallic crash echoed behind them.
Vincent spun.
The file cabinets were shaking.
Someone had locked the corridor door.
Vincent rushed to it.
“Back up!”
Emma and Isabella moved away.
Vincent slammed his shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
Again.
The hinges groaned.
Then a voice came from the darkness.
“Still protecting her, Vincent?”
Victoria.
Emma's stomach dropped.
Vincent turned toward the sound.
Victoria stepped into view holding a gun.
She wasn't alone.
A man stood behind her.
Emma recognized him.
The ballroom security chief.
The man who had been guarding Isabella's wheelchair earlier.
Vincent's expression turned murderous.
“You.”
The guard smiled.
“You always were slow.”
Victoria raised the gun.
“Put your hands where I can see them.”
Vincent obeyed.
Emma whispered,
“Who is he?”
Victoria smiled.
“The fourth person.”
Emma looked at the old photograph.
The missing sleeve.
The fourth person.
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“Gabriel.”
The guard stepped forward.
“Hello, Isabella.”
She looked as if she had seen a ghost.
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Gabriel laughed.
“That's what Daniel thought too.”
Emma suddenly understood.
Daniel had not been running from the family.
He had been running from Gabriel.
But then Gabriel pointed the gun at Vincent.
“Twenty-two years ago, Daniel discovered everything.”
Vincent stared.
“What did he discover?”
Gabriel smiled.
“That I wasn't working alone.”
Victoria slowly stepped forward.
“And he wasn't the only one who knew.”
She turned toward Emma.
“Your father left behind one final secret.”
Emma felt her blood freeze.
“What?”
Victoria held up a small silver key.
“This opens it.”
“Opens what?”
“The evidence Daniel hid before he vanished.”
Vincent looked at the key.
His expression changed.
“That's impossible.”
Victoria smiled.
“No, Vincent.”
She raised the gun toward Emma.
“It is very possible.”
Then the corridor lights went out.
May you like
A gunshot exploded.
Emma screamed.
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