Chapter 5 - THE HOUSE LOCKED ITSELF
Smoke poured from the eastern corridor.
Guests rushed toward the sealed doors.
Marcus ordered everyone to remain low.
The mansion’s smart security system no longer responded to his access code.
Isabella had replaced the central controls during William’s week in London.
Emma remembered workers installing new wiring near the service passages.
Isabella claimed it was for wedding security.
It was a private lockdown system.
The paramedics could not move Ethan outside.
One of them carried him toward the ballroom’s medical alcove.
William followed.
Ethan grabbed his sleeve.
“Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t.”
Emma remained beside the stretcher.
The boy trusted her more than anyone else in the room.
Isabella watched them.
“You are all behaving as though Claire was innocent.”
William looked up.
“She was.”
“No.”
Isabella pointed toward the screen.
“Show the final file.”
Nothing happened.
Then another recording began.
Claire stood inside William’s study.
She opened the family safe and removed documents.
Isabella smiled.
“She was stealing company records.”
Emma studied the video.
Something was wrong.
Claire’s reflection in the window moved half a second before her body did.
“The footage is edited,” Emma said.
Isabella laughed.
“Now the maid is a video expert.”
Emma stepped closer to the screen.
“The reflection is ahead.”
Marcus looked.
She was right.
The footage had been assembled from different recordings.
William turned toward the technician.
“Can you verify it?”
The young man connected an emergency laptop.
“The file metadata was modified last month.”
Isabella’s smile disappeared.
The smoke thickened.
A guest screamed from the eastern hallway.
Flames moved beneath a service door.
Marcus looked toward William.
“The fire suppression system is disabled.”
Emma knew the mansion better than anyone in the room.
“The old kitchen tunnel leads to the garden.”
Isabella shook her head.
“It was sealed.”
Emma looked at her.
“The visible entrance was sealed.”
She took the emergency flashlight from a wall cabinet.
“Follow me.”
William lifted Ethan from the stretcher.
The paramedics carried the oxygen equipment.
Emma led them through the pantry.
Behind a row of shelves stood an old dumbwaiter shaft.
She opened a floor panel.
A narrow stone staircase descended.
Guests hesitated.
The passage was dark and dirty.
They preferred the marble ballroom filling with smoke.
Emma entered first.
One by one, they followed.
William carried Ethan behind her.
Marcus remained near the rear with two loyal guards.
Isabella and Dr. Wells disappeared during the evacuation.
When Emma reached the underground junction, she stopped.
The tunnel divided.
One branch led toward the garden.
The other led deeper beneath the estate.
A child’s red sneaker lay on the ground.
Ethan looked down from William’s arms.
“That’s mine.”
Emma picked it up.
“You were wearing this when she took you?”
He nodded.
“She dragged me this way.”
A trail of small dark stains led into the deeper passage.
Blood.
William looked toward the garden exit.
Hundreds of guests needed to escape.
His son needed a hospital.
But the passage might contain the evidence Claire had hidden.
Emma understood the choice on his face.
“Get Ethan outside,” she said.
“I’ll check the tunnel.”
“No.”
William tightened his hold around his son.
“You already saved him once.”
“You are not going alone.”
Marcus arrived behind them.
“I will go with her.”
A violent explosion shook the passage.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
The garden exit collapsed.
Guests screamed in the darkness.
They were trapped underground.
Then a speaker hidden in the wall crackled.
Isabella’s voice filled the tunnel.
May you like
“Bring Ethan to the blue room.”
“Or the next explosion brings the entire mansion down.”
