Chapter 7: The Hidden Message
669 Words
Maya read the message twice.
Then a third time.
Her hands had gone cold.
“Who sent that?”
“I don’t know,” Adrian said.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Maya looked at him sharply.
“Then why should I go anywhere with you?”
“Because whoever sent this knows something about your father. And if we ignore it, we may never find out what happened.”
She hesitated.
Every sensible part of her mind screamed don’t go.
But another part—the part that had spent eight years wondering why her father had died carrying so many unanswered questions—needed to know.
“What exactly is Room 17?”
Adrian slipped his phone into his pocket.
“A private archive beneath an old Vale property.”
“And my father knew about it?”
“He may have.”
Maya stared at him.
“You said my father worked for your family.”
“He did.”
“And you never thought to tell me this before?”
“I didn’t know whether you were connected to what happened.”
Maya’s expression hardened.
“So you suspected me?”
“I suspected everyone.”
She gave a humorless laugh.
“Well, that’s comforting.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I don’t want you involved in this.”
“Too late.”
Their eyes met.
For a moment, the tension between them had nothing to do with danger.
Then Adrian looked away.
“Stay close to me tonight.”
Maya raised an eyebrow.
“Is that an order?”
“A request.”
“That sounded almost human.”
He gave her a faint smile.
“I’m trying.”
⸻
An hour later, they arrived at an abandoned building on the outskirts of the city.
Maya stared through the car window.
“This place looks like it hasn’t been used in years.”
“It hasn’t.”
Adrian got out.
Maya followed.
They entered through a side door.
Inside, everything was covered in dust.
Adrian switched on a flashlight.
They walked down a narrow corridor until he stopped in front of an old steel door.
There was no handle.
Maya frowned.
“How do we open it?”
Adrian pulled a small key from his pocket.
“My father gave this to me when I was seventeen.”
He inserted it.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
A cold draft swept past them.
Maya shivered.
“What is this place?”
Adrian looked into the darkness.
“The place where my family kept things they didn’t want anyone to find.”
They descended a staircase.
At the bottom was a long hallway.
Several doors lined the walls.
Adrian counted them.
“Fourteen…”
“Fifteen…”
“Sixteen…”
He stopped.
Maya stood beside him.
A faded brass plate was fixed to the final door.
17
Adrian reached for the handle.
Before he could touch it—
A light switched on inside the room.
Maya froze.
“Someone’s in there.”
Adrian immediately moved in front of her.
“Stay behind me.”
The door slowly opened by itself.
Inside was a desk.
An old filing cabinet.
And a single envelope lying in the center of the desk.
Adrian walked toward it.
Maya followed.
The envelope had one name written across it.
MAYA CARTER.
Her heart stopped.
Adrian looked at her.
“You’re not opening that alone.”
Maya swallowed.
“Then we’ll open it together.”
She reached for the envelope.
The moment her fingers touched it, a loud metallic sound echoed behind them.
The door slammed shut.
And the lights went out.
In the darkness, Maya heard Adrian whisper—
“Don’t move.”
Then someone laughed.
A man’s voice came from somewhere inside the room.
“You finally came, Adrian.”
Maya felt Adrian’s hand close around hers.
The voice continued.
“But you brought the girl.”
A pause.
“Just as I knew you would.”
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