Chapter 5 - The House Beneath the Mountain
The secure property was buried deep in the Adirondacks.
My father had built it as an emergency refuge.
I had visited once as a child.
I remembered almost nothing about it.
Now it became Ellie's temporary home.
The house had steel doors.
Independent power.
Encrypted communications.
A private medical room.
And enough security to make the Kingsley estate look exposed.
For two days, nothing happened.
Ellie played with wooden animals in the library.
She laughed.
She asked when Daddy was coming home.
I told her Daddy was busy.
Then on the third night, the alarm sounded.
Every light in the house turned red.
Security rushed through the hallway.
I grabbed Ellie.
“Mommy?”
“Stay with me.”
Someone had breached the outer fence.
Then another alarm sounded.
Someone had breached the inner perimeter.
A guard entered the room.
“We need to move now.”
I carried Ellie into the underground passage.
Footsteps echoed somewhere above us.
Then a man's voice shouted from the house.
“Take the child.”
My heart stopped.
We reached the armored vehicle.
The tunnel doors opened.
Security rushed us through.
As the vehicle drove away, I looked back.
Three figures disappeared into the darkness.
One of them turned.
He was standing beside the main door.
Grant.
I knew him instantly.
Even at a distance.
He raised one hand.
Not waving.
Warning.
I stared at him until the house disappeared.
Later that night, we reviewed the security footage.
Grant had not entered the property.
He had only remained outside.
Someone else had led the attack.
Someone with access to our exact location.
Someone who knew the security layout.
Arthur looked at me.
“There is a leak.”
I nodded.
“And it is inside Kingsley.”
That was the moment I understood.
The most dangerous person in this entire story might not be my husband.
May you like
It might be someone I trusted.
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