Chapter 2 - The Hidden Room Beneath the Nursery
Rory ordered the floor opened.
Men removed the nursery rug.
Then the wooden boards.
Beneath them was concrete.
No obvious hatch.
Tommy used a scanner.
A hollow space appeared.
“There's a room.”
Rory looked at me.
“How did you know?”
“I didn't.”
“You said the sound was beneath us.”
“I heard it.”
He nodded.
Then one of his men brought a cutting tool.
They opened the concrete.
A narrow staircase descended.
The air smelled damp.
Rory went first.
Tommy followed.
I was about to stay behind when Lily grabbed my hand.
“Don't go.”
“Why?”
“Aunt Celeste says bad things happen downstairs.”
I looked at Rory.
He heard.
“She's coming.”
“No.”
“You're coming.”
Rory stared at me.
“Stay beside me.”
We descended.
The room beneath the nursery was larger than expected.
Monitors covered one wall.
Speakers.
Transmitters.
Audio equipment.
A control console.
The screens showed recordings of the twins.
Sleeping.
Eating.
Playing.
Crying.
Someone had been watching them constantly.
Rory stopped breathing.
His daughters appeared on the monitors.
Every hour.
Every day.
Every night.
He walked closer.
“How long?”
Tommy checked the metadata.
“Four months.”
Rory's face changed.
Vanessa had died six months ago.
The surveillance started two months after her death.
The timing was deliberate.
A folder appeared on the screen.
STARKS CHILDREN — PSYCHOLOGICAL RESPONSE.
Rory opened it.
Inside were charts.
Sleep patterns.
Heart rates.
Fear responses.
Voice recordings.
The person behind it wasn't simply spying.
They were conducting an experiment.
I looked at one screen.
A recording of Lily crying.
On the audio, a low-frequency tone played beneath her screams.
I touched the speaker.
“This is why.”
Rory looked at me.
“The frequency.”
“It makes them feel sick.”
Tommy frowned.
“You can hear that?”
“Barely.”
Rory stared at the screens.
“Who built this?”
No one answered.
Then one monitor changed.
Live feed.
A hallway.
A man in a dark coat walked beneath the nursery.
Rory pulled his weapon.
“Who is that?”
Tommy zoomed.
The face became visible.
Rory froze.
His older brother.
Marcus Starks.
Dead for twelve years.
Or so everyone believed.
Rory stepped backward.
“Impossible.”
I looked at him.
“That's your brother?”
“Yes.”
Tommy's face was pale.
“Boss, records say he died in an explosion.”
“I know.”
The man on the screen stopped.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then smiled.
The feed went black.
A speaker crackled.
A voice whispered:
“Hello, little brother.”
Rory's face became cold.
“Find him.”
The screen displayed another message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE MANSION WHEN VANESSA DIED.
Rory stared.
My blood ran cold.
“What does Vanessa have to do with this?”
Rory didn't answer.
He stepped toward the console.
A new file opened automatically.
VANESSA STARKS — INCIDENT REPORT.
Rory's hands tightened.
The official report said Vanessa died when her car lost control on a wet road.
But the hidden file contained something else.
The brakes had been tampered with.
The steering system had been modified.
And the report had been altered.
Rory whispered:
“She was murdered.”
Tommy nodded.
“It looks that way.”
“Who investigated it?”
“Police.”
“No.”
Rory stared at the file.
“Who closed it?”
Tommy searched.
Then looked up.
“Judge Elliot Crane.”
Rory's eyes narrowed.
Crane was a powerful judge.
A family friend.
Someone who had attended Vanessa's funeral.
Someone Rory trusted.
Now his name appeared in the secret file.
I looked at Rory.
“Maybe the person who killed her is the same person hurting the girls.”
He stared at me.
“That’s what I think.”
A sound came from the tunnel.
Footsteps.
Several men.
Rory immediately pulled me behind him.
“Stay back.”
Gunfire erupted.
The first bullet struck the console.
Tommy returned fire.
Three attackers entered the room.
Rory moved faster than I imagined.
He disarmed one.
Tommy dropped another.
The third ran.
Rory chased him.
I stayed with the girls.
Then Lily screamed.
“Mommy!”
I looked at the monitor.
Vanessa appeared.
Alive.
On a recording.
She was holding the twins.
I stepped closer.
She looked directly into the camera.
“If anything happens to me, protect my girls from my husband's family.”
The recording ended.
Rory returned.
He had blood on his knuckles.
“What did I miss?”
I pointed.
He watched the video.
His face broke.
“Why would she say that?”
I shook my head.
“She knew someone was dangerous.”
Tommy entered.
“The attacker is dead.”
Rory nodded.
“Search him.”
They found an access badge.
It belonged to the Starks family.
Rory stared at it.
“Whose?”
Tommy answered.
“Celeste.”
We all looked toward the doorway.
Celeste stood there.
She had followed us underground.
Her face was wet with tears.
Rory pointed his gun.
“Did you build this?”
“No.”
“Did you know about it?”
“No.”
“Did you know Marcus was alive?”
She cried.
“Yes.”
Rory's face darkened.
“You knew.”
“He threatened me.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew about Vanessa.”
“What did Vanessa know?”
Celeste looked at me.
Then at the twins.
“She knew your father wasn't the man everyone thought he was.”
Rory's voice became dangerous.
“My father?”
Celeste nodded.
“Your father ordered things that never appeared in records.”
Rory looked stunned.
“Why would Vanessa know?”
“Because she found the ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“The original Starks ledger.”
Celeste explained.
Rory's father had built the family's criminal network decades earlier.
When Rory took over, he wanted to change it.
Vanessa supported him.
She had discovered a hidden ledger detailing illegal operations, corrupt officials, and secret payments.
She planned to expose everything.
Then she died.
Rory looked at the monitors.
“And Marcus?”
“He wanted the ledger.”
“So he staged his death.”
“Yes.”
“Then why torture my daughters?”
Celeste looked down.
“Because Vanessa hid the final key inside them.”
Rory's face hardened.
“What?”
“They don't have the ledger.”
“What do they have?”
“A memory.”
I didn't understand.
Then Celeste looked at me.
“Emma has it too.”
I froze.
“What?”
She whispered:
“Vanessa told the children something before she died.”
Rory turned toward me.
“What did she tell them?”
I didn't know.
But I remembered something.
One afternoon, months earlier, Lily had been drawing a picture.
A tree.
A house.
Three circles.
And a number.
Seventeen.
I had asked what it meant.
She said:
“Mommy said Daddy would know.”
I had forgotten.
Until now.
Rory looked at me.
“Emma.”
I swallowed.
“I think Lily remembers something.”
Tommy brought the girls into the room.
Rory crouched.
“Girls.”
They looked at him.
“Did your mother ever hide something with you?”
Lily nodded.
Rose whispered:
“Mommy said the blue bird knows.”
“What blue bird?”
The girls pointed toward the ceiling.
A stained-glass bird hung above the nursery door.
Rory stared.
He remembered it.
His mother had installed it when he was a child.
He touched the hidden frame.
A panel opened.
Inside was a small key.
And a note.
For Rory.
Only when the girls are safe.
Rory held it.
His hands shook.
Then he looked at Celeste.
“Where is Marcus?”
She whispered:
“At the old family church.”
Rory turned to Tommy.
“Get the cars.”
We left immediately.
But before I reached the door, Rose grabbed my sleeve.
“Emma?”
“Yes?”
She whispered:
“Don't trust the man with the silver watch.”
I looked at Rory.
He wore no watch.
Tommy did.
Then I remembered someone else.
May you like
Judge Crane.
He always wore a silver watch.
