Chapter 8: The Enemy Inside The Walls
The message on my phone remained on the screen.
*Too late. She already knows.*
My fingers went numb.
Someone had been watching us.
Not just watching.
Following.
Recording.
Waiting.
Ethan immediately took the phone from my hand.
“Everyone step away from the window.””
His voice changed.
The calm businessman disappeared.
The man standing there now was someone trained to handle threats.
Luke looked around the room.
“He’s here.””
I looked at him.
“Who?””
Luke’s eyes moved toward the hallway.
“I don’t know.””
“You just said he’s here.””
“I feel it.””
That answer would have sounded impossible yesterday.
But after everything I had learned, I believed him.
Ethan locked the bedroom door.
“Madison, stay behind me.””
“No.””
He looked at me.
“Madison.””
“I spent twenty years being protected from the truth.””
I held up the wooden bird.
“I’m done hiding.””
For a moment, Ethan said nothing.
Then he nodded.
“Okay.””
The agreement surprised me.
But then again, Ethan had always loved me enough to know when protecting me meant standing beside me instead of in front of me.
Evelyn looked at the key in my hand.
“That key opens something.””
I looked at her.
“You know what?””
She shook her head.
“No.””
“But you knew my father hid something.””
“Yes.””
“Where?””
Her eyes moved toward the bird.
“I don’t know.””
Nobody believed her.
Including me.
“You’re lying.””
Evelyn looked hurt.
“I’m not.””
“Everyone keeps telling me they don’t know things.””
My voice rose.
“My father hid secrets. Luke lost his memories. You knew about all of this. And somehow nobody knows anything?””
Silence.
Then Luke spoke.
“She’s telling the truth.””
I turned toward him.
“How do you know?””
“Because she was never good at lying.””
Evelyn looked at him.
A sad smile appeared.
“You remember that?””
“Little pieces.””
He touched his temple.
“Fragments.””
I studied them.
They had shared a life I knew nothing about.
A life before everything fell apart.
“What was my father really like?”” I asked.
The question surprised everyone.
Evelyn looked at me.
“He was stubborn.””
I almost laughed.
“That sounds right.””
“He believed people mattered more than money.””
I looked down.
“He would say something like that.””
“He also worried too much.””
A small smile appeared on her face.
“He worried about you constantly.””
My throat tightened.
“Me?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Evelyn looked at the wooden bird.
“Because Daniel knew the truth would eventually reach you.””
A loud noise interrupted us.
A crash downstairs.
Everyone froze.
Ethan immediately moved toward the door.
“No.””
I grabbed his arm.
“Don’t go alone.””
He looked at me.
“I’m not leaving you.””
The words were simple.
But they mattered.
We moved together.
Slowly.
The mansion felt different now.
It was no longer our home.
It was a crime scene.
Every hallway.
Every doorway.
Every shadow.
A place where someone had been moving without permission.
When we reached the first floor, we found the security monitors flickering.
The screens showed static.
Ethan walked toward them.
“Someone hacked the system.””
“Can they do that?”” I asked.
“Not easily.””
“Who could?””
He didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Victor Hale.
The name existed between us.
Then one monitor turned on.
A video appeared.
A man sitting in a dark room.
Older.
Silver hair.
Perfect suit.
A familiar face.
Victor Hale.
I had seen him dozens of times at charity events.
He had shaken my hand.
Complimented my father’s old designs.
Smiled beside Ethan at business gatherings.
Now he looked directly into the camera.
Into us.
“Madison.””
My body went cold.
Ethan stepped closer.
“Victor.””
Victor smiled.
“Ethan Whitmore.””
His voice was calm.
Almost friendly.
“I was hoping you would understand eventually.””
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“What did you do?””
Victor ignored him.
He looked at me.
“Your father was always sentimental.””
I stepped closer.
“You knew him.””
“Yes.””
“You killed him.””
A pause.
Victor’s smile faded slightly.
“Careful.””
“You destroyed his life.””
“No.””
He leaned closer.
“Your father destroyed his own life when he decided morality was more important than survival.””
My hands curled into fists.
“You erased Luke.””
Victor’s eyes moved toward Luke.
“Luke.””
For the first time, Victor looked almost disappointed.
“You really survived.””
Luke stepped toward the screen.
“Why?””
Victor smiled.
“You still ask the same questions.””
“What did you do to me?””
“Nothing permanent.””
Luke’s face changed.
“Nothing permanent?””
“You were always stronger than expected.””
Ethan looked at the screen.
“Where are you?””
Victor laughed softly.
“Do you really think I would make that mistake?””
The feed glitched.
Before it disappeared, Victor said one final thing.
“Madison, ask your husband why Daniel trusted him.””
The screen went black.
Silence.
I turned slowly.
Toward Ethan.
My husband looked away.
And that scared me more than Victor’s threat.
“Ethan.””
He didn’t answer.
“Why did my father trust you?””
Ethan rubbed his face.
“Madison…”
“No.””
My voice shook.
“Not now.””
He looked at me.
“I was going to tell you.””
“When?””
He had no answer.
That was enough.
“What did my father know about you?””
Ethan was silent.
Then he walked to the desk.
Opened a drawer.
And removed a folder.
I stared.
“You had that?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because your father gave it to me.””
The room went still.
“What?””
Ethan looked at me.
“Two years before we met.””
I couldn’t process it.
“My father knew you?””
“Yes.””
“How?””
“Through business.””
“No.””
I shook my head.
“That’s not possible.””
Ethan opened the folder.
Inside were old documents.
Photographs.
Letters.
My father’s handwriting.
“I was twenty-seven,” Ethan said.
“I had just started my first construction company. Daniel was one of the only people who believed in me.””
I looked at the papers.
“You never told me.””
“Because he asked me not to.””
My heart sank.
“He asked you to keep secrets from me?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Ethan looked at the letter.
“Because he thought telling you would put you in danger.””
I took the paper.
Read the first line.
Ethan, if you are reading this, then I failed.
My father’s words again.
Always preparing for a future he might not survive.
Protect Madison. Not because she is weak. Because she is the only person who can finish what I started.
I looked up.
“What did he mean?””
Ethan hesitated.
“Your father believed you remembered something important.””
I shook my head.
“I don’t.””
“Yes, you do.””
My anger returned.
“No.””
“Madison.””
“No!””
The room went silent.
I was tired.
Tired of everyone acting like they knew my own memories better than I did.
“I was sixteen.””
Ethan stepped closer.
“Your father told me you saw something that night.””
I froze.
The same thing Luke had said.
“What did I see?””
Ethan looked at the journal.
Then at Luke.
“Something that could destroy Victor Hale.””
I looked at Luke.
“Do you know?””
Luke closed his eyes.
Then he whispered:
“Yes.””
Everyone turned.
“What?””
Luke looked terrified.
“I remember now.””
My heart pounded.
“What do you remember?””
He looked at me.
“The night your father disappeared.””
The room became completely silent.
“Tell me.””
Luke swallowed.
“I remember Daniel bringing me to your house.””
I frowned.
“My house?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“To say goodbye.””
My breath caught.
“What?””
Luke’s eyes filled with pain.
“He knew he wasn’t coming back.””
I felt tears forming.
“What happened?””
Luke looked at the wooden bird.
“He hid the evidence.””
“Where?””
Luke shook his head.
“Not where you think.””
“Then where?””
He stepped closer.
His voice dropped.
“He didn’t hide it in the bird.””
I looked down.
The key.
The secret compartment.
The hidden message.
“What?””
Luke pointed at the bird.
“He hid the key there.””
My heart stopped.
“Then what does the key open?””
Luke looked toward the floor beneath us.
“The place where Daniel hid the truth.””
Ethan followed his gaze.
“The mansion?””
Luke nodded slowly.
“Yes.””
A horrible realization crossed my mind.
“My father hid something here.””
“Yes.””
“But why?””
Luke looked at me.
“Because he knew someone close to him would come looking.””
The words from the note returned.
*Trust him before you trust anyone else.*
I looked at Ethan.
Then Luke.
Then Evelyn.
Someone had lied to me.
Someone had protected me.
Someone had betrayed my father.
And I still didn’t know which person was which.
Then the floor beneath us made a sound.
A deep mechanical click.
Everyone froze.
The old house trembled slightly.
A hidden section of the wall near the fireplace slowly opened.
Behind it was a narrow staircase descending into darkness.
Evelyn whispered:
“I thought that room was gone.””
Ethan looked at her.
“You knew?””
She shook her head.
“No.””
Her face turned pale.
“I thought Victor destroyed it.””
Luke stared into the darkness.
His voice barely came out.
“That’s where it happened.””
I looked at him.
“What happened?””
He took a step toward the hidden staircase.
“Where I lost my memories.””
Then from below…
A light turned on.
And a voice called up from the darkness.
“Madison.””
Every person in the room froze.
Because it wasn’t Victor.
It wasn’t a stranger.
It was a voice I knew.
A voice that belonged to someone who should never have been there.
My mother.
“Come downstairs, sweetheart.””
May you like
My blood ran cold.
Because my mother had been dead for twelve years.
