Chapter 2 - The Man in the Passage
“Adrian!”
Hannah grabbed his sleeve.
He pulled free.
“My son was imprisoned inside my house.”
His voice was low and controlled.
“I’m done standing still.”
Adrian switched on the flashlight from his phone and entered the narrow corridor.
The passage was barely wide enough for his shoulders.
Exposed pipes ran along the ceiling.
Dust coated the floor.
Fresh footprints did not.
Someone had carefully covered most of the walkway with dark rubber mats.
Adrian understood why immediately.
No tracks.
No sound.
No evidence that anyone regularly moved behind the walls.
“Call the police.”
Adrian shouted over his shoulder.
“I already did.”
Hannah answered.
Celeste’s voice came from the ballroom.
“You're making a mistake!”
Adrian stopped.
He looked back.
Celeste stood beyond the shattered wall surrounded by staring guests.
Her designer gown was covered in white plaster dust.
Her composure was returning.
That concerned Hannah more than the panic had.
Celeste had always recovered quickly.
Too quickly.
“Whatever Noah thinks happened, he has been through severe trauma.”
Celeste raised her hands.
“He may be confused.”
Noah stiffened.
Hannah felt it immediately.
The boy whispered.
“She tells people I'm confused.”
Hannah bent beside him.
“You don't have to explain anything right now.”
Noah shook his head.
“She says it until people believe her.”
Adrian heard that.
His jaw tightened.
Then he turned back toward the passage.
“Not anymore.”
He continued.
Hannah wanted to follow.
Noah clung to her sleeve.
“Don't.”
She looked down.
“Why?”
“There are doors.”
“What doors?”
Noah pointed into the passage.
“Doors that disappear.”
Adrian stopped again.
Noah’s breathing quickened.
“The man knows them.”
Adrian crouched near his son.
“What man?”
Noah swallowed.
“Mr. Lang.”
Adrian stared.
“Victor Lang?”
Noah nodded.
Victor Lang had been Adrian’s chief of residential security for nine years.
Former military contractor.
Impeccable references.
Trusted with the mansion.
Trusted with Adrian’s schedule.
Trusted with Noah’s protection before the supposed death.
Victor was not in the ballroom.
Adrian suddenly remembered something.
Victor had texted him earlier that evening.
Family emergency.
Unable to attend.
Adrian stood.
“Lock every exterior gate.”
One of the security officers hesitated.
“Sir, Mr. Lang controls the system.”
“Then disconnect his access.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And nobody leaves.”
Celeste laughed sharply.
“You can't imprison two hundred people because a frightened child found a recorder.”
Adrian slowly faced her.
“My frightened child spent three years imprisoned behind my walls.”
Celeste looked around at the guests.
“You see how emotional he is.”
Adrian took one step toward her.
The room went quiet again.
“Emotion is the only reason you're still standing in my home instead of sitting in a police car.”
Police sirens became audible outside.
Celeste’s eyes flickered toward the windows.
Hannah noticed.
So did Adrian.
Three patrol cars crossed the private bridge leading toward the mansion.
Then the iron entrance gates abruptly began to close.
A security guard looked at his tablet.
“I didn't authorize that.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Lang.”
Outside, the gates slammed shut directly in front of the first police vehicle.
The officers braked.
Another security guard rushed toward the control room.
Hannah turned toward Noah.
“What happens if Mr. Lang thinks someone found you?”
Noah whispered.
“He moves me.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“You've been moved before?”
Noah nodded.
“How many times?”
He held up four fingers.
Celeste interrupted.
“Stop questioning him.”
Hannah turned.
Celeste’s eyes were cold now.
“He needs a doctor.”
“He needs his father.”
Hannah replied.
“And he needs you nowhere near him.”
A murmur rippled through the ballroom.
Celeste looked at Hannah with naked hatred.
“You're a maid.”
Hannah smiled without humor.
“And apparently that was enough to find the child you said was dead.”
The guests reacted.
Celeste flushed.
Noah tugged Hannah’s sleeve.
“Hannah.”
“Yes?”
“He's still inside.”
She froze.
“Mr. Lang?”
Noah shook his head.
“The other man.”
Before Hannah could ask, something crashed inside the hidden passage.
Adrian turned toward the sound.
A faint rectangle of light appeared ahead.
Then vanished.
A concealed door.
Adrian ran.
He reached the point where he had seen the light and shoved at the wooden wall.
Nothing moved.
He felt along the edges.
No seams.
No handle.
Behind him, Noah shouted.
“Third pipe!”
Adrian looked upward.
Three pipes ran across the ceiling.
He grabbed the third.
It shifted downward.
A narrow panel swung inward.
Adrian entered.
A spiral metal staircase led down.
Footsteps echoed below.
Adrian descended two stairs at a time.
“Stop!”
The person below kept running.
Adrian reached the bottom.
A long underground corridor stretched beneath the mansion.
Electric lights flickered overhead.
Storage doors lined both sides.
At the far end, a man in a black suit disappeared around the corner.
Not Victor.
Too short.
Adrian sprinted after him.
The man reached a steel door.
He glanced back.
Adrian saw his face.
“Gideon?”
The man froze.
Gideon Sharp.
Adrian’s personal attorney.
The man who had handled Noah’s estate after the supposed death.
The man who had stood beside Adrian at the funeral.
The man carrying Noah’s recorder in his right hand.
“Give me that.”
Gideon stepped backward.
“Adrian, you don't understand.”
Adrian kept approaching.
“You have three seconds.”
Gideon raised the recorder.
“This could destroy everything.”
Adrian’s expression did not change.
“One.”
“Your company.”
“Two.”
“Your family.”
“Three.”
Gideon turned and ran.
Adrian caught him before he reached the door.
They slammed into the wall.
The recorder flew from Gideon’s hand.
Gideon elbowed Adrian and lunged toward it.
Adrian grabbed the back of his jacket.
Gideon spun around.
“You have no idea what Celeste will do!”
The words stopped both men.
Adrian stared at him.
“You said her name.”
Gideon realized his mistake.
Adrian shoved him against the wall.
“What did she do?”
Gideon looked toward the recorder.
Adrian followed his eyes.
That was when the lights died again.
A door opened somewhere.
Gideon shouted.
“Victor!”
Someone struck Adrian from behind.
Pain exploded across his shoulder.
He fell.
Boots rushed past him.
Metal scraped across the floor.
Then silence.
Adrian forced himself upright.
His phone flashlight switched on.
Gideon was gone.
The recorder was gone again.
But something remained on the floor.
A small plastic rectangle.
Adrian picked it up.
A memory card.
Gideon had dropped it.
He stared at the tiny object in his hand.
Then Hannah’s voice echoed from the staircase.
“Adrian!”
He looked up.
She appeared with two police officers.
“Noah told me something else.”
Adrian climbed toward her.
“What?”
Hannah’s face had lost its color.
“He says Celeste didn't keep him hidden because she wanted him dead.”
Adrian stopped.
Hannah swallowed.
May you like
“She kept him alive because she needed him for something.”
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