Chapter 6 - When the Cameras Went Dark.
.The emergency lights snapped on, washing the hallway in pale red while the kitchen filled with confused voices.
Damian’s security chief called from the stairwell.
“The building still has power.”
“Then why are the cameras down?”
“Server room lost connection.”
Damian looked toward the locked rooms where Victor and Miriam had been separated.
“Keep them where they are.”
The guard’s silence lasted too long.
“What?”
“Victor’s room is empty.”
Anna grabbed Lily’s hand.
Damian’s expression went cold.
“How?”
“The service door alarm failed when the network dropped.”
Miriam’s room was still locked.
Damian looked at the black ledger on his desk.
He suddenly understood what Victor would want.
“Take this.”
He handed the ledger to Anna.
“Don’t let go of it.”
Anna stared at him.
“Where are you going?”
“To the server room.”
Lily spoke before he reached the door.
“He knows another way.”
“What?”
Lily pointed toward the back wall.
“When Mrs. Vale locked me in the staff office, I heard Mr. Kane talking behind the wall.”
“There’s nothing behind that wall except storage.”
Lily shook her head.
“There’s a little door.”
“Can you show me without walking far?”
They moved slowly down the corridor, Lily limping beside her mother.
At the pantry she stopped and pointed behind a stack of folded banquet tables.
Security pulled them aside.
A narrow maintenance door appeared.
It led to an old service passage Damian had forgotten existed after the restaurant renovation.
Victor knew the building plans.
Of course he did.
Damian told Anna to stay back with Lily and entered with two guards.
The passage smelled of dust and cold metal.
At the far end, a door stood open.
Beyond it was the server room.
A laptop sat on the floor with a cable attached to the security switch.
Victor was gone, but he had left his jacket and phone behind.
Damian picked up the phone.
The screen was unlocked.
A message thread with Miriam was open.
Miriam: She found the book.
Victor: Then make the mother quit.
Victor: Use the kid.
Damian read the line twice.
Miriam: I already scared her enough.
Victor: Not enough if the letter reaches him.
Anna had followed despite Damian’s instruction.
She stood in the doorway.
“Scared her how?”
Damian did not want Lily to hear the answer.
He locked the phone.
“Anna.”
“No.”
She stepped into the room.
“I spent three weeks thinking I failed my daughter because I had no place to leave her.”
“I need to know.”
There was no detailed description.
Yesterday’s “fall” should keep her quiet.
Anna stared at him.
“That wasn’t a playground accident.”
Lily waited down the corridor with security, unable to hear them.
Anna pressed both hands to her face.
“She told me she tripped.”
“She may have been trying to protect you.”
Anna lowered her hands.
“From losing my job.”
“From being afraid.”
“Same thing in her world.”
The words landed heavily.
A guard found another message.
Victor had texted an unknown number ten minutes earlier.
Back entrance. Two minutes. Bring the car.
“We missed him.”
Then a crashing sound came from the kitchen.
Miriam’s room was open.
She stood in the center of the kitchen, surrounded by staff, holding a folder against her chest.
Security raised their hands, unsure whether to move.
“You want the truth?”
Anna held Lily behind her.
Miriam lifted the folder.
“Your daughter’s accident wasn’t the beginning.”
She looked at Damian.
“It started six months ago.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“What started?”
Miriam smiled without warmth.
“The reason Victor has been stealing from you.”
She opened the folder.
Inside was a photograph of Damian’s late father standing beside Victor.
May you like
On the back, written in faded ink, were four words.
You owe the Kane family.
