Chapter 5 - Nine Seconds“Get out!”
Margaret shouted.
Everyone moved at once.
The emergency lights turned red.
The underground room filled with a low mechanical hum.
Eight seconds.
Sarah grabbed the ledger.
Daniel lunged toward her.
Margaret intercepted him.
They crashed into the shelves.
Seven seconds.
Sarah ran.
Her ribs burned.
Leo cried against her chest.
She reached the doorway.
Eleanor screamed.
“Don't take the book!”
Six seconds.
Sarah stopped.
She looked back.
Eleanor was no longer trying to hide.
She was terrified.
Five seconds.
Sarah held the ledger against her chest.
“Why?”
Eleanor pointed at it.
“That book doesn't belong to you!”
Four seconds.
Margaret grabbed Sarah's arm.
“Move!”
Three seconds.
The system began beeping.
Two.
One.
Nothing happened.
Silence.
Daniel slowly raised his head.
“What?”
The red lights disappeared.
The machines stopped humming.
Margaret frowned.
Then she looked at Eleanor.
“You disconnected the wrong system.”
Eleanor's eyes widened.
“No.”
A voice came from the speakers.
Not recorded.
Live.
“Good evening.”
Everyone froze.
The voice belonged to a man.
Young.
Calm.
Sarah looked around.
Daniel whispered, “Who is that?”
The voice continued.
“I've been waiting eleven years.”
Margaret's face drained of color.
“No…”
Sarah looked at her.
“You know him?”
Margaret swallowed.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
She didn't answer.
The voice did.
“My name is Nathan Walker.”
Sarah froze.
The same last name.
Her last name.
The voice continued.
“And Sarah…”
The monitor switched on.
A live video appeared.
A man sat in a dark room.
Mid-thirties.
Dark hair.
Thin scar under his right eye.
Sarah stared at the face.
She had never met him.
Yet something inside her screamed that she had.
The man smiled.
“You don't remember me.”
Sarah shook her head.
“Nathan?”
The man's eyes filled with emotion.
“I remember you.”
Margaret whispered:
“He was your mother's first child.”
Sarah's knees nearly collapsed.
“My… brother?”
Nathan nodded.
“I was supposed to have died in the fire.”
Eleanor whispered:
“You did.”
Nathan smiled.
“No.”
He leaned toward the camera.
“You needed everyone to believe I did.”
Daniel staggered backward.
Sarah looked between them.
“What does this have to do with Leo?”
Nathan's expression changed.
The smile disappeared.
“Everything.”
Sarah held Leo tighter.
“Why?”
Nathan looked directly into the camera.
“Because Daniel isn't Leo's father.”
Daniel screamed.
“Shut up!”
Nathan didn't react.
“And Eleanor isn't Leo's rightful heir.”
Margaret stepped closer to the monitor.
“What are you saying?”
Nathan's voice became quieter.
“The baby belongs to the family you thought Eleanor destroyed.”
Sarah's blood ran cold.
Daniel reached for her.
She moved away.
“Don't touch me.”
The police finally entered the underground corridor.
Voices echoed through the mansion.
“Police! Drop your weapons!”
Daniel looked toward the doorway.
Then at Eleanor.
His mother gave him a single instruction.
“Take the baby.”
Daniel's face changed.
Sarah realized what they were planning.
She ran.
Up the staircase.
Into the mansion.
Behind her she heard Daniel shouting.
“Sarah!”
She reached the nursery.
Locked the door.
Leo screamed.
Sarah pushed a dresser against the entrance.
Then she saw something hanging inside the baby's crib.
A second silver key.
Not like hers.
Larger.
Older.
And attached to a small tag.
Four words were written on it.
LOOK UNDER THE CRIB.
Sarah's hands trembled.
She dropped to her knees.
Moved the blanket.
Reached underneath.
Her fingers touched metal.
She pulled out a black box.
There was a note taped across the lid.
Sarah read it.
Her breath stopped.
May you like
Because the handwriting was her mother's.
Sarah, if you ever find this, don't trust the man who calls himself your husband.
Related Stories
