Chapter 8 - The House Goes Dark.
Lorenzo reached the cellar stairs before Marcus could stop him.
The old stone steps were narrow and damp.
Mia screamed again from below.
“Daddy!”
“I’m coming!”
He descended two steps at a time.
Marcus followed with a flashlight and his weapon raised.
Celeste came behind them despite being ordered to stay upstairs.
Adrian remained at the top of the staircase.
The cellar door was locked from the inside.
Lorenzo slammed his shoulder against it.
The wood held.
Marcus fired one round into the lock away from the hinges.
The door burst open.
Rows of old wine racks stretched beneath low stone arches.
A single emergency lantern glowed near the far wall.
Mia stood beside it in her yellow dress.
She was alone.
Lorenzo ran to her and dropped to his knees.
He checked her arms, face, and neck for injuries.
She clung to him.
“The man took me.”
“Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“Where did he go?” Marcus asked.
Mia pointed toward the oldest rack.
Marcus pulled it aside.
Behind it was another concealed door.
The passage beyond led outside to the greenhouse.
Fresh rainwater marked the stone floor.
Someone had escaped into the storm.
Lorenzo wrapped his suit jacket around Mia.
Celeste crouched nearby.
“I’m so sorry.”
Mia looked at her.
“You were crying.”
Celeste froze.
“When?” Lorenzo asked.
Mia pointed toward the wine racks.
“Before dinner.”
Lorenzo turned to Celeste.
“You were down here?”
She slowly stood.
Celeste looked as though the last wall around her secret had collapsed.
“Yes.”
“With whom?”
“The man who gave me the pill.”
Adrian finally came down the steps.
His shoes were perfectly dry.
Lorenzo noticed.
If Adrian had escaped through the greenhouse passage, he would have been soaked.
That meant either Adrian was innocent of the abduction or someone else was helping him.
Celeste pointed toward the concealed door.
“He wore a mask.”
“What kind?”
“Black fabric.”
“Voice?”
“Distorted through a phone.”
Marcus searched the floor near the lantern.
He found a small black security camera no larger than his thumb.
Its red LED was blinking.
Someone had mounted it low between two wine racks.
“This one is recording locally,” Marcus said.
Lorenzo looked at Celeste.
“Did you put that there?”
She shook her head.
Marcus removed the memory card and inserted it into his tablet.
The first video began at 8:14 p.m.
Celeste entered the cellar alone.
At 8:17, a masked figure came through the greenhouse passage.
The figure handed her a small paper packet.
Celeste was visibly crying.
The audio was faint but usable.
A distorted voice said, “Put it in his wine at eleven-thirty.”
Celeste whispered, “You promised Noah would be released.”
The figure answered, “When Lorenzo sleeps.”
Then Celeste said something that made everyone look at Adrian.
“You said your brother would never know.”
The masked man grabbed her wrist.
“Do not use names.”
Adrian’s face went rigid.
Lorenzo looked from the screen to his brother.
Celeste began shaking.
“I thought it was him.”
Adrian exploded.
“You thought what was me?”
“The voice.”
“You just said it was distorted.”
“The way he said Lorenzo’s name.”
Adrian stepped toward her.
Marcus moved between them.
Then the video skipped forward twenty minutes.
A second figure entered the cellar.
This one was not masked.
Marcus paused the frame.
Everyone stared at the screen.
May you like
The man was wearing a security uniform.
And his face belonged to one of the two guards currently standing outside Mia’s nursery.
