Chapter 14 — The Hidden Room
1452 Words
Elena stood frozen in the middle of her father's bedroom, staring at the broken window. Rain blew through the shattered glass, soaking the curtains and leaving small puddles on the floor. The paper Damian had found was still in his hand, but Elena didn't need to read it again. The threat was already carved into her mind.
STOP LOOKING FOR THE PAST, OR ELENA WILL BE NEXT.
“My father was here,” she whispered. “He was right here.”
Damian looked toward the window. “They couldn't have taken him through the front entrance. Security would have seen them.”
“Then they came through the window?”
“Possibly.”
Elena moved toward the broken glass, but Damian caught her arm.
“Don't.”
She pulled away. “That's my father out there.”
“And whoever took him wants you to react without thinking.”
“I can't just stand here!”
“I know.”
His voice softened, but Elena was already overwhelmed.
“You don't know,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “You don't know what it feels like to lose your mother and then wake up one day to find out that everything your father told you was a lie. Now they've taken him too.”
Damian stepped closer.
“We're going to find him.”
“How?”
“I'll use every resource I have.”
Elena looked at him. “And if we don't find him?”
“We will.”
“You can't promise that.”
“No,” Damian admitted. “But I can promise you that I won't stop looking.”
For a moment, Elena couldn't speak.
Then she noticed something.
The bedroom was too quiet.
She looked around slowly.
“Damian.”
“What?”
“My father wasn't taken from here.”
He frowned. “What makes you say that?”
“Look at the room.”
Damian glanced around.
“Everything is in place.”
“Exactly. If someone had forced him through the window, there would be signs of a struggle.”
Damian's expression changed.
He walked toward the bed and examined the floor.
“No footprints.”
Elena nodded.
“And the broken window is strange.”
Damian looked closer.
“The glass is outside.”
“So?”
“If the window was broken from inside, most of the glass would be outside. But if someone entered from outside, it would be inside.”
Elena's eyes widened.
“Then someone inside this room broke the window.”
“Or someone wanted us to believe that.”
Damian immediately called Cole.
“Lock down the mansion again. Nobody leaves.”
Cole's voice came through the phone.
“Already done.”
“Search every room.”
“We're searching now.”
Damian ended the call.
Elena walked toward the wardrobe.
“My father used to keep important things hidden.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
She opened the wardrobe and began searching through his clothes.
Damian watched her.
“What are you looking for?”
“Something that doesn't belong.”
She pushed aside several jackets.
Then she stopped.
One of the wooden panels at the back looked slightly different.
“Damian.”
He came closer.
She pointed at it.
“This wasn't here before.”
Damian ran his fingers along the edge.
There was a small gap.
He pressed it.
A section of the wall clicked and opened.
Elena stared.
Behind it was a narrow passage.
Her heart began racing.
“My father had a secret room.”
Damian pulled out his phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Stay behind me.”
They stepped into the passage.
The walls were covered with old photographs and documents.
Elena's breathing became shallow.
She recognized her mother immediately.
There were photographs of her mother meeting Damian's father, Victoria, Victor and Richard.
But there were also photographs of Elena herself.
As a child.
At school.
Walking home.
Standing outside her house.
Elena stared in horror.
“Why does my father have photographs of me?”
Damian's expression darkened.
“These aren't ordinary family photographs.”
“What do you mean?”
“Somebody was watching you.”
Elena looked at another photograph.
It had been taken when she was sixteen.
She remembered that day.
She had been walking home from school when she thought someone was following her.
She had told herself it was her imagination.
It wasn't.
Someone had been watching her.
For years.
She covered her mouth.
“Oh my God.”
Damian placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Elena.”
She stepped away.
“My father knew.”
“He may have been trying to protect you.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
Damian didn't answer.
Elena moved deeper into the room.
There was a large desk in the center.
On it were several files.
One had her name written across it.
She opened it.
The first page contained her birth certificate.
The second contained medical records.
The third made her stop breathing.
It was a copy of her mother's will.
But it wasn't the will they had found earlier.
This one was dated three days before her mother's death.
Elena read it quickly.
Her mother's final wishes were completely different.
The twelve million dollars were not mentioned.
Instead, everything was left to Elena.
Everything.
The house.
The investments.
The private accounts.
And one mysterious property she had never heard of.
Blackwood Estate.
“What is Blackwood Estate?” Elena asked.
Damian looked at the document.
“I don't know.”
“You've never heard of it?”
“No.”
Elena turned the page.
There was a handwritten note at the bottom.
If Elena is ever in danger, take her to Blackwood Estate. She will be safe there.
Elena looked at Damian.
“Why would my mother believe I would be in danger?”
“Because she knew something was coming.”
Elena's hands trembled.
Then another document caught her attention.
It was a letter from Richard.
She opened it.
I promised you I would protect Elena.
But I failed.
If anything happens to me, don't let Victoria find the girl.
Elena stared at the words.
“The girl?”
Damian took the letter.
“What girl?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Suddenly, a sound came from behind them.
They turned.
The secret door was closing.
Damian rushed toward it, but it slammed shut.
“Elena, move!”
He pushed against it.
It wouldn't open.
Someone had locked them inside.
Elena's breathing quickened.
“Damian.”
“Stay calm.”
“There must be another way out.”
They searched the walls.
Nothing.
Then Elena noticed a small red light blinking on the desk.
A camera.
Someone was watching them.
Damian immediately smashed it.
A speaker suddenly came alive.
Victoria's voice filled the room.
“You found it sooner than I expected.”
Elena stepped toward the speaker.
“Where is my father?”
“You're asking the wrong question.”
“Tell me where he is!”
“He's alive.”
Elena closed her eyes in relief.
“Let him go.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When you stop digging.”
Damian stepped toward the speaker.
“You've made one mistake, Victoria.”
She laughed.
“And what's that?”
“You left us alive.”
There was silence.
Then Victoria replied, “No, Damian. I left you alive because I need you.”
Elena's blood ran cold.
“Why?”
Victoria's voice became softer.
“Because without Damian Cross, the truth can never be revealed.”
The speaker went silent.
Damian looked at Elena.
“What does that mean?”
“I don't know.”
But before Elena could say anything else, a hidden panel opened beneath the desk.
Inside was a small black envelope.
Her name was written on it.
She pulled it out with trembling fingers.
The envelope contained one photograph.
Elena stared at it.
It showed her mother holding a newborn baby.
But the baby wasn't Elena.
On the back of the photograph were five words.
YOUR MOTHER HAD ANOTHER CHILD.
Elena's entire body went cold.
She looked at Damian.
“My mother had another child?”
Damian took the photograph.
His face changed.
And for the first time since they had entered the hidden room, he looked genuinely shocked.
Because he recognized the baby.
He had seen that face before.
Not in a photograph.
Not in an old file.
But in the present.
Someone was still alive.
And that person was much closer to Elena than either of them realized.
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