Chapter 4 - The Room Beneath Vale House
Dominic reached the library in less than two minutes.
Theo followed.
Four armed guards spread behind them.
The old library occupied the oldest section of Vale House, where dark oak shelves reached two stories high and portraits of dead family members stared down as if they still expected obedience.
One guard lay near the fireplace.
Alive.
Barely conscious.
Dominic crouched.
“What happened?”
The man touched the side of his neck.
“Needle.”
Theo looked around.
“Someone drugged him.”
Dominic stood.
“Where’s the entrance?”
Elena’s words came back.
Behind the fireplace.
He examined the carved stone.
Nothing.
Theo ran his fingers along the wood paneling.
“Here.”
A narrow brass switch sat hidden beneath the mantel.
Dominic pressed it.
Nothing happened.
Theo tried pulling it.
A section of shelving clicked.
Then slowly moved outward.
Cold air drifted from darkness behind it.
A staircase descended beneath the house.
Dominic looked at Theo.
“You knew about this?”
“No.”
“I hate surprises.”
“Yeah. I’ve noticed.”
Dominic took the first step.
Theo followed.
The air smelled of dust, stone, and damp earth.
The staircase ended at an underground room no larger than a private study.
Old filing cabinets lined one wall.
A heavy desk sat beneath a bare bulb.
Someone had recently been there.
A chair was overturned.
Documents covered the floor.
One cabinet stood open.
Empty.
Dominic’s eyes hardened.
“Elena’s ledger.”
Theo examined the desk.
“Gone.”
Then Dominic noticed blood.
A small smear on the wall.
Not much.
Fresh.
He followed it toward a narrow passage.
At the end lay a black hat.
Wide-brimmed.
Old-fashioned.
The exact kind Sophie had described.
Theo stopped beside him.
“You think Kane was down here?”
Dominic picked up the hat.
“Someone wanted me to.”
Theo looked at him.
“Meaning?”
“Meaning every clue is too convenient.”
The security code.
Julian’s button.
Gabriel’s hat.
A trail designed to point in three directions at once.
Someone was flooding the house with suspects.
Dominic hated chaos.
It was useful only to the person creating it.
He returned upstairs.
Elena was furious when she learned the ledger was gone.
“You should have taken me.”
“You could barely stand.”
“It was my mother’s journal.”
“And you’re alive.”
“You don’t understand.”
Dominic stopped.
“You have a three-year-old daughter.”
Elena stared.
“I understand more than you think.”
For a moment neither spoke.
Then Sophie entered holding Mrs. Avery’s hand.
“Mommy!”
Elena forgot Dominic existed.
She opened her arms.
Sophie ran carefully but fast enough that one oversized slipper fell off.
Elena pulled her onto the bed and kissed her hair.
Sophie started crying.
Not loudly.
That made it worse.
“I waked you,” she whispered.
Elena held her tighter.
“Yes, baby.”
“I got Mr. Vale.”
“I know.”
“He scary.”
Dominic lifted one eyebrow.
Elena laughed through tears.
“Sometimes.”
Sophie looked at him.
“But good scary.”
Theo turned away to hide a smile.
Dominic did not appreciate that.
Sophie then reached into the rabbit’s torn seam.
“Mommy, paper gone.”
Elena froze.
“What paper?”
“Mr. Vale took picture.”
Dominic removed the photograph.
Elena checked the rabbit.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“There should be something else.”
Dominic moved closer.
“What?”
“A key.”
Sophie shook the rabbit.
Nothing.
Elena’s breathing quickened.
“I put a key inside with the photograph.”
“What key?”
“The lower room.”
Dominic looked toward Theo.
“You opened it without a key.”
“The first door,” Elena said. “Not the second.”
“What second door?”
She looked at him.
“My mother’s journal said there was a locked compartment under the floor.”
Dominic felt irritation rise again.
“This house apparently has more secrets than walls.”
Elena ignored him.
“The key was in Sophie’s rabbit.”
“And now it’s gone.”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at Sophie.
“Did anyone touch Bunny?”
Sophie frowned.
“Doctor man.”
Keller?
Dominic’s expression sharpened.
“When?”
“When Mommy sleeping.”
Elena looked alarmed.
“Keller?”
Sophie shook her head.
“Other doctor.”
Dominic went cold.
“There was no other doctor.”
Sophie looked confused.
“He had white coat.”
Dominic turned.
“Theo.”
Already moving.
They searched the medical corridor.
A white laboratory coat was found stuffed in a utility closet.
No identification.
Security footage showed a masked man passing through an unused service hallway at 3:24 a.m.
He entered the waiting room while Dominic was questioning Croft.
Three minutes later, he left.
The key had been taken from the rabbit.
By midday, Dominic moved Elena and Sophie into a secured suite beside his own rooms.
Elena objected.
“This is unnecessary.”
“Someone entered a medical wing wearing a disguise and searched your daughter’s toy.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
“You’re staying.”
“I’m not one of your employees right now.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I quit.”
“No.”
Her eyes widened.
“You can’t refuse my resignation.”
“Watch me.”
“You are unbelievable.”
“So I’ve been told.”
Sophie sat on the rug between them eating apple slices.
She looked from one adult to the other.
“Are you fighting?”
Elena sighed.
“No, sweetheart.”
Dominic answered at the same time.
“Yes.”
Elena glared at him.
Sophie giggled.
The sound changed the room.
Only briefly.
But enough.
Dominic noticed Elena staring at him afterward.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You do that often.”
“Do what?”
“Say nothing when you mean something.”
Elena looked away.
“You’re different with her.”
He knew who she meant.
“Sophie is three.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It is mine.”
That evening, Dominic questioned Julian.
His uncle had been found inside an unused greenhouse tunnel connecting the north wing to the gardens.
Julian claimed he had received a note instructing him to go there.
“Why?”
“It said Vincent left something for me.”
“Vincent is dead.”
“Which is why I went.”
Dominic stared.
Julian lit a cigar.
Dominic reached across the desk, took it from his mouth, and crushed it into a glass.
Julian looked offended.
“You always hated those.”
“You know what I hate more?”
“I’m sure you’re about to tell me.”
“People poisoning women in my house.”
Julian’s face changed.
“You think I did that?”
“I think your security button was in Sophie’s rabbit.”
Julian slowly sat back.
“What?”
“From your old coat.”
“My coat disappeared years ago.”
“Convenient.”
Julian looked genuinely rattled.
“Dominic, listen to me. Gabriel Kane is alive.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“For how long?”
Julian looked down.
Too long.
Dominic’s voice changed.
“How long?”
“Eleven years.”
Dominic stood so quickly the desk shifted.
“You knew for eleven years?”
“I didn’t know. I suspected.”
“Explain.”
Julian swallowed.
“The week before your father died, Vincent told me Kane had contacted him.”
Dominic stared.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because your father made me swear.”
“My father died.”
“And you became exactly like him.”
The words hung between them.
Julian continued.
“Vincent said Kane wanted something buried beneath this house.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
“What?”
Julian leaned forward.
“A document proving Vale Holdings was never fully yours.”
Dominic went still.
“What document?”
“A trust created before you were born.”
“For whom?”
Julian looked at him.
“For Amelia Kane.”
Elena’s mother.
Dominic said nothing.
Julian continued.
“Gabriel and your father built the original company together. When Gabriel disappeared, Vincent transferred everything. But a portion had already been placed in trust for Amelia.”
“How much?”
“Not money.”
“What then?”
“Ownership.”
Dominic understood.
“Shares.”
“Forty percent.”
The number hit like a physical blow.
If true, Elena Hart was heir to nearly half of the corporate structure Dominic had spent his adult life controlling.
Not a maid.
Not an outsider.
A hidden owner.
“And Gabriel wants it?”
Julian shook his head.
“He can’t inherit it. Amelia’s line can.”
Elena.
Then Sophie.
Dominic looked toward the hallway.
“Who else knows?”
Julian hesitated.
That was answer enough.
“Who?”
“Marcus.”
Dominic’s expression turned cold.
His CFO.
A man who had managed Vale Holdings finances for twelve years.
A man who would know exactly what forty percent ownership could do.
Dominic left without another word.
Marcus Reed’s office was empty.
Computer gone.
Safe open.
Phone abandoned.
This time, there was no mystery about escape.
A camera from the western garage showed Marcus leaving Vale House at 11:36 p.m.
Five minutes before the eastern security system was disabled.
The driver?
Daniel Croft.
Except Croft had been found tied in the cellar.
Theo stared at the footage.
“That’s not Croft.”
Dominic looked closer.
Same uniform.
Same build.
Different walk.
A disguise.
The car exited before lockdown.
Marcus had gotten out.
Or someone wanted it to look like he had.
Then another camera showed the passenger.
Just for one frame.
A man in a black hat.
Dominic enlarged the image.
The face was blurred.
But old.
Bearded.
Alive.
Gabriel Kane.
Elena entered the security room behind them.
She saw the screen.
Her breath caught.
“That’s him.”
Dominic looked at her.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Theo spoke.
“If Gabriel escaped with Marcus, why is someone still inside the house?”
Dominic turned.
“What?”
Theo pointed at another screen.
A heat sensor beneath the library had activated again.
Someone was moving in the underground room.
Dominic looked toward Elena.
Then toward Sophie, waiting outside with Mrs. Avery.
The missing key.
The hidden compartment.
Forty percent of Vale Holdings.
A dead man who wasn’t dead.
And an intruder who had never left.
Dominic reached for his weapon.
But Elena grabbed his wrist.
“No.”
He looked at her.
She held up Sophie’s stuffed rabbit.
The seam had been ripped open.
Inside the stuffing was a second pocket neither of them had noticed.
Elena reached into it.
And removed a tiny brass key.
Sophie had not lost the original.
Someone had stolen a decoy.
Elena looked at Dominic.
“My mother knew someone would come looking.”
Dominic stared at the key.
Then at Elena.
“Good.”
“Why good?”
Because for the first time that night, whoever was hunting them was about to open the wrong door.
May you like
And Dominic intended to be waiting behind the right one.
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