CHAPTER 3 Welcome Back
The crimson emergency lights painted the estate in eerie shadows.
Every alarm began screaming at once.
"Security breach detected."
"Lockdown initiated."
Victor stared at the monitor.
The words WELCOME BACK remained on the screen.
Then another message appeared.
I NEVER LEFT.
Victor's face turned pale.
"No..."
Daniel saw the fear immediately.
For years, Victor had acted like a man who controlled every move.
Now, for the first time...
He looked like someone else's plan had just begun.
Inside the pool, Elena felt the chain loosen another inch.
The maintenance hatch shifted beneath her feet.
She surfaced, coughing violently.
"Daniel!"
He looked toward her.
"The hatch!"
"I know!"
Victor spun toward the pool.
His eyes narrowed.
"You knew about that?"
Daniel didn't answer.
Victor lunged toward the emergency control panel mounted beside the wall.
He slammed his hand against a hidden switch.
Nothing happened.
The system was offline.
"What?"
He pressed it again.
Still nothing.
The computer screen flashed another message.
ACCESS DENIED.
Victor cursed under his breath.
Somewhere else on the estate...
A black SUV rolled silently through the front gates.
The security barriers should have stopped it.
Instead...
Every gate opened automatically.
The guards looked at one another in confusion.
"Who authorized that?"
No one answered.
The SUV continued toward the mansion.
Inside sat only one man.
Gray hair.
Dark sunglasses.
Black leather gloves.
His expression never changed.
He looked at the estate as if he had built every inch of it.
On the passenger seat lay an old photograph.
It showed a smiling little girl sitting on a horse.
Elena.
At six years old.
The man gently touched the photo.
"I'm coming."
Back inside...
Lily watched her parents in terror.
She wanted to help.
Instead, she noticed something no adult had.
Near the broken glass door...
Victor had dropped his phone.
Its screen was still unlocked.
She quietly crawled toward it while everyone else shouted.
No one noticed.
Daniel rushed back to the pool.
"I'm going under."
Elena nodded.
"I almost have it."
Together they disappeared beneath the water.
The maintenance hatch trembled.
Daniel wedged his fingers beneath the edge.
"Push!"
They shoved with everything they had.
The hatch finally lifted two inches.
But the chain remained attached.
Daniel reached inside the opening.
His fingers searched through darkness.
Then...
He found it.
A small metal lever.
Exactly where he remembered.
He pulled.
Nothing.
He pulled harder.
Still nothing.
Rust.
Years of rust.
"It won't move!"
Elena's lungs began burning.
They surfaced again.
Victor laughed.
"Hope is cruel, isn't it?"
Daniel ignored him.
"There has to be another release."
Elena suddenly remembered something.
Seven years earlier.
During the mansion renovations...
An elderly maintenance worker had complained about "the old emergency disconnect."
Victor had fired him the next day.
At the time she hadn't understood why.
Now...
She did.
"There are two releases!"
Daniel looked at her.
"Where?"
"The pump room!"
Victor's smile disappeared.
Without hesitation Victor sprinted toward the maintenance room.
Daniel followed.
The brothers crashed into each other halfway across the marble floor.
Victor slammed Daniel into a wall.
Daniel answered with a punch.
The fight exploded into chaos.
Pipes shook.
Glass shattered.
Tools scattered everywhere.
Victor grabbed a heavy wrench.
Daniel ducked just before it smashed into the wall.
Concrete cracked.
Victor swung again.
Daniel caught his wrist.
For a moment...
Neither man moved.
Victor leaned close.
"You should have stayed obedient."
Daniel whispered,
"I stopped being afraid."
Then he drove his knee into Victor's ribs.
Victor staggered backward.
Meanwhile...
Lily unlocked Victor's phone.
She didn't know the password.
She didn't need to.
Face recognition had never turned off.
A list of recent messages appeared.
Most were meaningless.
One wasn't.
It simply read:
If Elena dies before midnight, transfer all Ashford holdings immediately.
Lily frowned.
Below it was another message.
From an unknown number.
Witness must be eliminated.
Witness?
She scrolled farther.
Then froze.
A photograph filled the screen.
It was...
Her.
Taken earlier that morning outside her school.
Lily's tiny hands began shaking.
Someone had been watching her.
Outside the mansion...
The black SUV stopped.
The older man stepped out.
He glanced toward the house.
Emergency lights flashed through the windows.
Alarms echoed across the grounds.
He smiled faintly.
"Right on schedule."
A younger woman climbed out of the driver's seat.
"Sir..."
"We're late."
"No."
He looked toward the mansion.
"They're exactly where Victor wanted them."
"And where we wanted him."
She handed him a small metal case.
Inside rested an old silver pocket watch.
He opened it.
Hidden beneath the clock face...
Was a tiny key.
Back inside...
Daniel finally reached the emergency disconnect valve.
He grabbed it with both hands.
Victor tackled him from behind.
Both men crashed onto the wet concrete floor.
The valve spun halfway.
A loud metallic CLANG echoed through the pool.
Elena looked down.
One cuff unlocked.
Only one.
Her right wrist was free.
She stared in disbelief.
Victor heard the sound.
His eyes widened.
"No!"
Elena immediately reached for the second cuff.
But without the key...
It wouldn't open.
She was still trapped.
Victor threw Daniel aside and sprinted toward the pool.
He pulled a handgun from beneath his jacket.
Daniel froze.
"So that's your final plan."
Victor aimed at Elena.
"If I can't drown her..."
"...I'll make sure she never leaves this room."
He tightened his finger on the trigger.
Just as the gun fired—
A deafening explosion shattered the mansion's front doors.
BOOM!
The entire house shook.
Every head turned.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the entrance hall.
One...
Two...
Three...
Then a calm, familiar voice echoed through the mansion.
"Victor..."
The older man stepped into view, holding the silver pocket watch.
"You've been looking for me..."
"...for twenty-two years."
Victor's face drained of all color.
His gun slowly lowered.
He whispered only one name.
"Richard..."
Elena stopped breathing.
Richard Bennett.
Her father.
May you like
The man she had believed was dead for more than two decades.
Was standing alive in the doorway.
