Chapter 2 - THE HOUSE MANAGER
Emergency lights flickered along the kitchen floor.
Alexander carried Lily out of the stone room while Maya followed unsteadily.
“Stay behind me,” he ordered.
Celeste stepped toward him.
“Alexander, you need to listen to me.”
“Do not come near my daughter.”
The sharpness in his voice stopped her.
Alexander removed his phone.
There was no signal.
The estate’s private network had been disabled.
A security panel beside the pantry flashed red.
LOCKDOWN ACTIVE.
Only Alexander and Grant possessed authority to initiate a complete lockdown.
Alexander entered his personal code.
The system rejected it.
“Grant changed the master access,” Maya said.
“How do you know?”
“I heard him telling Celeste the cameras would be blind for twelve minutes.”
Celeste’s eyes narrowed.
“You were listening at doors?”
“I was carrying Lily’s medicine.”
Alexander looked down at his daughter.
Her breathing remained shallow.
He needed to get her to a hospital.
The main doors would not open.
The windows were reinforced.
The underground garage was protected by steel barriers.
Grant had transformed Alexander’s home into a prison.
A telephone rang inside the stone room.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
An old black phone sat on a shelf that had been hidden by darkness.
Alexander lifted the receiver.
Grant’s voice came through the line.
“You were not supposed to return until tomorrow.”
“Open the house.”
“I cannot do that.”
“My daughter nearly died.”
A pause followed.
“That was never the plan.”
Alexander’s hand tightened around the receiver.
“What was the plan?”
“To make you understand that the past cannot remain buried.”
“Where are you?”
“Closer than you think.”
The line went dead.
Maya examined the brass key that had fallen from Lily’s rabbit.
A tiny letter V had been carved into its handle.
Alexander recognized it.
His late wife, Rebecca, used the same symbol on private documents.
“Where did you get the rabbit?” he asked Lily.
“Mommy gave it to me.”
“Before she died?”
Lily nodded.
“She said never let the blonde lady take it.”
Celeste’s expression hardened.
“Lily was four years old.”
“Children remember fear,” Maya said.
Celeste looked at her with open hatred.
Alexander carried Lily toward the service hallway.
A narrow maintenance stairwell led to the basement generator.
If they restored power manually, they could release the doors.
Maya walked beside him.
Celeste followed several feet behind.
Halfway down the stairs, Maya stopped.
“There is someone below us.”
Footsteps scraped across concrete.
Alexander placed Lily in Maya’s arms.
“Take her upstairs.”
The basement door opened.
A masked man rushed forward holding a metal bar.
Alexander blocked the first strike with his forearm.
The second blow sent him against the wall.
Maya screamed.
Celeste did not.
She simply watched.
Alexander drove his shoulder into the attacker and tore off the mask.
The man beneath it was one of Grant’s private security guards.
Before Alexander could question him, Celeste struck the back of Alexander’s head with a fire extinguisher.
He collapsed.
The last thing he saw was Celeste taking Lily from Maya’s arms.
May you like
Then she looked down at him and smiled.
“You should have stayed in London.”
