CHAPTER 2 The Secret Beneath the Chain
Daniel hit the icy water with a thunderous splash just as Victor strode back into the pool room.
For the first time that day, Victor looked genuinely surprised.
"What are you doing?" he barked.
Daniel ignored him.
He dove straight to the bottom of the pool, disappearing beneath Elena's struggling feet.
The chain rattled violently.
Elena looked down through the cloudy water.
Daniel was feeling along the concrete floor with both hands.
Searching.
Victor stepped closer to the edge.
"Daniel!"
No response.
The chain jerked again.
Daniel resurfaced, gasping.
"There isn't enough time."
Victor folded his arms.
"There never was."
Daniel glared at him.
"You lied."
Victor smiled faintly.
"I omitted a few details."
"You told me she'd be sent away."
"I changed my mind."
Daniel's fists clenched.
"You promised Lily would never be involved."
Victor's eyes hardened.
"Plans evolve."
Those three words told Daniel everything.
Victor had never intended to honor any promise.
Not one.
The steel pool cover continued creeping across the ceiling.
Only a narrow strip of sunlight remained.
The room felt darker by the second.
Elena struggled to keep her head above water.
Every movement pulled painfully against the cuffs around her wrists.
Her arms were growing numb.
Daniel looked at the chain again.
"It's anchored."
"I know."
"No..."
He shook his head.
"It's not."
"What?"
He pointed beneath the water.
"The chain isn't attached directly to the floor."
Elena squinted.
Through the wavering water she noticed something.
The iron ring wasn't embedded in solid concrete.
It was bolted onto a square metal plate.
A maintenance hatch.
Daniel looked toward the equipment room behind the pool.
"If I can reach the release valve..."
Victor laughed.
"You think I'd leave that unlocked?"
Daniel ignored him.
"There has to be another way."
Victor checked his watch.
"You have six minutes."
A terrified scream echoed through the hallway.
"Daddy!"
Lily.
She had escaped again.
The little girl raced into the room barefoot, tears streaming down her cheeks.
She threw herself toward Daniel.
"Save Mommy!"
Daniel hugged her tightly.
"I will."
"You promise?"
His voice cracked.
"I promise."
Victor sighed impatiently.
"You really should stop making promises you can't keep."
Lily turned toward him.
"I hate you!"
Victor's smile disappeared.
"You'll learn."
"No!"
"I'll never be like you!"
Victor stared at the child for several long seconds.
Then he smiled again.
"You remind me of someone."
Elena's heart skipped.
"Who?"
Victor looked directly at her.
"Your father."
Daniel froze.
"What did you just say?"
Victor walked slowly around the pool.
"You've spent seven years believing Richard Bennett died in that boating accident."
He chuckled.
"Convenient story."
Elena's voice trembled.
"My father is dead."
"Is he?"
Victor reached into his jacket.
He pulled out an old photograph.
Even from across the room Elena recognized it instantly.
It was her family.
Taken twenty-two years earlier.
She was only six.
Her mother smiled beside her father.
But something was different.
Someone else stood behind them.
A teenage boy.
His face was partially hidden.
Victor held up the picture.
"You never wondered who took care of your horses?"
Elena stared.
"No..."
"The stable boy."
Memories flooded back.
A quiet teenager.
Dark hair.
Always watching.
Always smiling politely.
She had completely forgotten him.
Victor smiled.
"That was me."
Silence.
"I grew up on your family's estate."
Elena's breathing stopped.
"My father hired you."
"He pitied me."
Victor's smile twisted into something darker.
"He thought giving an orphan a job made him a hero."
Daniel frowned.
"What does that have to do with this?"
Victor looked at him.
"Everything."
Another loud mechanical click echoed overhead.
The pool cover had nearly closed.
Fresh air was disappearing.
The room suddenly felt suffocating.
Daniel glanced upward.
"We're running out of time."
Victor shrugged.
"I know."
Daniel suddenly sprinted toward the equipment room.
Victor moved to block him.
The two men collided.
A heavy punch landed across Daniel's jaw.
He stumbled.
Victor struck again.
Daniel crashed into a marble pillar.
Blood trickled from his lip.
Lily screamed.
"Daddy!"
Victor looked down at him.
"You've never been a fighter."
Daniel slowly stood.
"No."
He wiped the blood from his mouth.
"But I'm finally choosing a side."
Without warning, he slammed his shoulder into Victor.
Both men crashed through the glass door leading into the maintenance room.
Glass exploded everywhere.
Inside the equipment room...
Machines roared.
Pipes vibrated.
Emergency pumps lined the walls.
Daniel scanned everything desperately.
"There!"
A large red wheel.
He lunged for it.
Victor grabbed the back of his jacket.
The two men wrestled across the wet floor.
The red wheel remained just beyond Daniel's fingertips.
Victor laughed.
"You always were too late."
Back in the pool...
Elena suddenly felt something strange.
The chain moved.
Just slightly.
She looked down.
The square metal hatch beneath her feet had shifted.
Only half an inch.
But it had moved.
Someone had loosened it years ago.
Her mind raced.
Daniel.
He hadn't been searching randomly.
He already knew.
He had prepared for this.
She took a deep breath.
Then dove beneath the surface.
Ignoring the pain in her wrists, she planted both feet against the maintenance hatch.
And pushed.
Nothing.
Again.
The metal groaned.
Again.
A tiny crack opened along one edge.
Hope ignited inside her.
Inside the equipment room, Daniel saw the hatch indicator light blink yellow.
He smiled.
"It worked."
Victor's face changed.
"What did you do?"
Daniel whispered,
"I gave her a chance."
Victor shoved him backward and lunged for the emergency override panel.
But before he could reach it—
Every light inside the room suddenly went black.
The pumps stopped.
The pool cover froze halfway shut.
For one terrifying second...
The entire estate lost power.
Emergency backup lights flickered to life in deep red.
A computerized voice echoed through the building.
"Security breach detected."
Victor slowly turned toward the control monitor.
Someone had hacked the estate.
And the screen displayed only two words:
May you like
WELCOME BACK.
Victor's confident smile vanished for the first time in years.
