Chapter 3
The handle turned again.
Daniel stepped between me and the door, one hand raised to quiet us. In the weak glow of the emergency strips, his face looked carved from stone. Then came a sharp blow against the other side.
The door shuddered in its frame.
“Someone’s trying to force it,” I whispered.
“Or make us think they are.” Daniel glanced toward the dead control panel. “Either way, we can’t stay here.”
A second blow landed. This time, a thin crack sounded near the lock.
My phone was still in my hand. I checked the screen. No signal. The call to the police had gone through before the power failed, but I had no way to know whether anyone was on the way—or whether the people outside had cut more than electricity.
Daniel crossed to the built-in cabinet beside the bookcase and yanked open the lower doors. Behind rows of binders, he found a narrow metal panel. He pressed its edge. Nothing.
“Help me.”
I pulled at the panel with him. It gave a fraction, then stuck.
Another impact rocked the office door. A splinter dropped onto the floor.
Daniel braced one shoulder against the cabinet and pulled harder. The panel broke free with a scraping groan, exposing a dark opening barely wide enough for a person.
“Where does that go?” I asked.
“Service space. It follows the old wall toward the records room. I’ve seen it on renovation plans.”
“That’s not the same as knowing it’s clear.”
“No.” He aimed his flashlight into the opening. “It’s the only route we have.”
A voice sounded outside the office. Low and muffled. I couldn’t make out the words.
Then the door shook again.
Daniel ducked into the opening and turned back to me. “Move.”
I slid inside. Dust clung to the narrow passage, and the walls pressed close on both sides. A few feet in, I stopped and looked back.
“Elliot,” I said. “He’s still out there.”
“I know.”
“He came here to warn us.”
“He also came with Victoria and Michael. We don’t know what he wants.”
The words tasted worse than they should have. But Daniel was right. Elliot had given me a name and recognized my father’s handwriting. Neither fact proved who he was—or why Michael and Victoria had brought him to my door.
A hard crack came from the office entrance. The door was giving way.
“Julian,” Daniel said, sharper now.
I started forward. The passage narrowed around my shoulders. Behind us, the office door banged open—or close to it. I heard something hit the floor and a rush of footsteps enter the room.
Daniel pointed his flashlight ahead. “Keep moving. Don’t touch the wiring.”
We followed the passage past pipes and dusty crossbeams. The air smelled of old wood and the damp stone beneath the mansion. After several yards, a junction opened on our left. A small door stood there, its paint flaking at the edges.
Daniel tried the handle. It turned, but the door barely moved.
“Something’s blocking it,” he said.
I leaned my shoulder against it. Together, we pushed. The obstruction shifted with a heavy scrape, and the door swung inward just enough for Daniel to squeeze through.
We emerged into the old records room.
Rows of cabinets stood in the dark, their brass labels catching the flashlight. I had been in that room dozens of times. I had never known there was a passage behind one wall.
“Who told you about this route?” I asked as I pulled the door shut.
Daniel shook his head. “No one. I found it in the renovation plans.”
A faint scuff sounded from the far end of the room.
Daniel aimed the light.
A figure stepped out from between two filing cabinets, hands raised.
“Don’t shoot.”
Elliot.
Daniel kept the flashlight fixed on him. “How did you get in here?”
“The door from the hall was open when the lights went out.” Elliot’s eyes moved from Daniel to me. “I left before they could stop me.”
“Who?”
He hesitated.
“Victoria and Michael,” I said. “You were standing between them.”
“I know what it looked like.”
“It looked like you were part of this.”
“I was trying to get away from them.”
“You could have said that before.”
“I couldn’t say much with them listening.”
It was a reasonable answer. That didn’t make it a trustworthy one.
Behind us, from somewhere in the passage, came a hollow thump. Daniel swung the light toward the hidden door.
“How did you know this room connected to the passage?” I asked Elliot.
He looked past me, toward the filing cabinets. “My father once told me there was a way through the old records room. He said to remember it in case I ever needed to leave without using the front doors.”
“Your father?”
Elliot’s mouth tightened. “I know what you’re thinking.”
“I don’t know what to think.”
“Fair enough.”
A crash echoed from the passage. Whoever had entered my office had found the cabinet.
Daniel lowered the flashlight. “We need another exit.”
Elliot pointed to a door at the rear of the records room. “That leads to the east stairwell. The lower level has an exit near the kitchens.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I was told.”
“By the same person who told you about the passage?”
He didn’t answer. That, at least, was honest.
We moved through the records room and into the stairwell. Daniel went first, checking each landing before letting us follow. The emergency lights here were on, but they blinked unevenly, leaving stretches of concrete in darkness.
At the first landing, I pulled out my phone. One bar appeared, vanished, then returned.
I called the hospital.
A nurse answered after several rings. “St. Joseph’s emergency department.”
“This is Julian Ricci. Allison Reed was brought in from my home tonight. I need to know if she’s conscious.”
“Mr. Ricci, she’s stable and being monitored. I can’t discuss medical details over the phone.”
“I’m not asking for details. Let her know I’m here when she can talk.”
“I’ll pass that along.”
I should have ended the call then. Instead, I heard myself ask, “Did she say anything about her daughter?”
The nurse paused. “She was worried about Lucy. She asked whether anyone had reached her family.”
A cold pressure tightened behind my ribs.
“Do you know where Lucy is now?”
“We don’t have that information. I’m sorry.”
I looked at the dark phone screen after the call ended. Allison had been trying to warn me while she could barely breathe. Now, even from a hospital bed, she was worried about the child she’d left behind.
Elliot watched me. “Her daughter?”
“Allison’s eight-year-old. Lucy.”
“Is she safe?”
“I don’t know.”
The words barely left my mouth before my phone vibrated. No message appeared. The signal dropped again.
Daniel looked up the stairwell. “We can’t stay here.”
We continued down. Somewhere above us, a door opened, followed by footsteps. Daniel switched off his flashlight.
The three of us stood still in the dark.
Footsteps crossed the landing above. Slow. Measured. Whoever was there wasn’t running. They were searching.
Elliot leaned close enough for me to hear him breathe. “If we go down, we’ll reach the kitchens.”
“That’s what you said.”
“There’s another door there. It leads out toward the back drive.”
“And you know that because?”
“My father described the house to me.”
“That doesn’t tell me why I should trust you.”
“You shouldn’t,” he said quietly. “Not yet.”
The answer caught me off guard.
He continued, “But I’m not asking you to trust my story. Just let me get you away from the people trying to force you to sign.”
Above us, the footsteps stopped.
Daniel motioned for us to move.
We descended one flight, then another. The stairwell bent toward the lower level. At the landing between floors, Daniel peered down and immediately stepped back.
“What is it?” I whispered.
He didn’t answer. He held his hand out to stop us.
A figure stood on the stairs below.
The emergency light flickered, revealing a dark suit and a familiar face.
Michael.
He had one hand on the railing. His other hand was empty and visible. His expression was composed, but his breathing was too fast for a man who had simply come to talk.
Daniel shifted in front of me.
“Move,” I said.
Michael’s eyes stayed on mine. “You can’t take him down there.”
“Get out of the way.”
“I’m trying to keep this from getting worse.”
“You locked my office and cut the power.”
“I didn’t cut the power.”
“Then tell me who did.”
His jaw moved, but he didn’t answer. From above, the footsteps resumed. Whoever was searching had reached the records-room level.
Daniel glanced toward the upper landing, then back at Michael. We were caught between them.
“Let us through,” Daniel said.
Michael shook his head. “Julian, you don’t understand what happens if this goes any further.”
“Then explain it.”
“I can’t.”
“You keep saying that. You keep asking me to sign something you won’t explain, while people are getting hurt.”
Michael’s eyes flicked toward Elliot. “You have no idea who he is.”
“I know he says he’s Elliot Ricci.”
“He’s a reason people will come after this family.”
“People are already coming after this family. One of them is standing in front of me.”
A flicker of anger broke through Michael’s careful expression. Then it was gone.
“Sign the authorization,” he said. “We can still protect everyone.”
“Who is everyone, Michael?”
He glanced toward the dark stairs above us. The footsteps stopped again, closer now.
I stepped down one stair. Michael held his ground.
“You want me to believe this is about protecting people? Then start with the truth.”
His face changed. Not much. Just enough for me to see the fear beneath the anger.
May you like
Then he looked directly at me.
“Lucy has already been brought to the mansion.”
