Chapter 7 - The Trap Hidden Inside Room 1407
At 11:57 p.m., Lily walked toward room 1407 alone.
The same gray hoodie.
The same camera.
The same quiet footsteps.
Three minutes until midnight.
She knocked.
Marcus opened the door.
He was older than she expected.
Elegant.
Calm.
Almost ordinary.
That made him more frightening.
“Lily Carr.”
“Marcus Voss.”
“Come inside.”
She did.
Damian’s mother sat near the window.
Alive.
Marcus held out his hand.
“The photograph.”
Lily gave him a drive.
Marcus connected it.
A photograph appeared.
Damian’s father.
A woman beside him.
Marcus leaned closer.
Then frowned.
“This proves nothing.”
“No,” Lily said.
“It doesn’t.”
Marcus turned.
Lily raised her camera.
Flash.
Marcus flinched.
Another flash.
“What are you doing?”
“Photographing everything.”
His face changed.
The phrase meant something to him.
Evan’s old rule.
Marcus reached for her.
The door burst open.
Damian entered.
Adrian followed.
Marcus pulled a weapon.
Lily dropped.
A shot exploded.
Glass shattered.
Damian tackled Marcus.
Adrian freed Damian’s mother.
Within seconds, Marcus was pinned.
But then another gun clicked.
Victor stood in the doorway.
Everyone froze.
“You really thought Marcus was the mole?” Victor asked.
Damian stared.
Victor smiled.
“I’ve been cleaning up your family’s mistakes for fifteen years.”
He aimed at Damian.
Lily saw something nobody else did.
The mirror.
Victor’s angle.
His finger tightening.
She lifted her camera.
Flash.
Victor instinctively turned.
Damian moved.
The gun fired into the ceiling.
Adrian disarmed him.
Silence returned.
Police sirens rose below.
Marcus laughed from the floor.
“You think this ends anything?”
Lily looked at him.
“No.”
She turned her camera around.
A red indicator blinked.
LIVE.
Marcus stopped laughing.
Everything had been transmitted.
His confession.
Victor’s admission.
The weapons.
Everything.
May you like
For eleven years, Lily had carried photographs nobody had been allowed to see.
Tonight she had made certain the truth could never be buried again.
