Chapter 7 - Beneath the Ballroom
I ran before anyone could stop me.
My father shouted behind me.
“Elena!”
I kept going.
Rachel caught up at the library stairs.
“You stay behind me.”
“That tunnel splits in three directions.”
“You know the property?”
“I grew up here.”
“Then point.”
We reached the Winter Room.
The archive door stood open.
A panel in the rear wall had been moved.
Behind it was a narrow concrete staircase descending into darkness.
My mother had shown it to me once when I was twelve.
It connected the main house to the carriage house, utility building, and old wine cellar.
It had been built during Prohibition.
Of course my family kept it.
Rich people loved pretending escape tunnels were heritage.
Rachel drew her flashlight.
We descended.
Halfway down, we heard voices.
Adrian.
“Move.”
Brooke cried.
“You’re hurting me.”
I moved faster.
Rachel grabbed my arm.
“Slow.”
We reached the bottom.
Adrian stood thirty feet away with one arm locked around Brooke.
He held a broken champagne stem against the side of her neck.
Not enough to kill her immediately.
Enough to make everyone careful.
Brooke was shaking.
Adrian saw me.
“Of course you came.”
“Let her go.”
“She started talking.”
“She’s your sister.”
“She’s weak.”
Brooke shut her eyes.
Something in me went cold.
I knew that word.
Men like Adrian used it whenever someone stopped being controllable.
I took one step.
Rachel warned me.
“Elena.”
Adrian pressed the broken glass closer.
“Don’t.”
I stopped.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“Which one?”
“Your mother’s.”
I held it up.
His eyes followed it.
“There’s another room beneath the cellar.”
“How do you know?”
“My father spent seven years looking for it.”
“And you think Mom hid the ledger there?”
“I know she did.”
Brooke suddenly whispered.
“He’s lying.”
Adrian tightened his grip.
“Shut up.”
Brooke looked at me.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
Adrian dragged her backward.
“Enough.”
Brooke shouted.
“HE KNEW LEAH WAS GOING TO DIE.”
Everything stopped.
Adrian’s face changed.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Rachel lifted her weapon.
“Release her.”
Brooke was crying now.
“He heard Dad talking about the road.”
Adrian screamed.
“Shut your mouth!”
Brooke twisted suddenly.
She stomped his foot and dropped her weight.
The glass moved away from her neck.
Rachel rushed forward.
So did I.
Adrian shoved Brooke aside and ran.
I caught her before she hit the wall.
Rachel chased him toward the cellar.
Security appeared from the opposite passage.
Adrian was trapped.
For one second, he looked almost calm.
Then he turned toward me.
“You think catching me changes anything?”
Owen grabbed his arms.
Adrian struggled.
“You’re protecting the wrong man, Elena!”
My father reached the bottom of the stairs.
Adrian saw him.
Then he smiled.
“Tell her, Charles.”
My father stopped.
Adrian’s voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Tell your daughter who paid for Leah Monroe’s car to go off that bridge.”
I stared at my father.
Adrian laughed.
“Two million dollars.”
May you like
My father’s face went white.
“Two days after she died.”
