Chapter 15 - The Door That Opened
Nobody spoke.
Carter stared at the phone.
The message remained on the screen.
STOP LOOKING FOR ME.
Then the screen changed.
A live location appeared.
Carter looked at the map.
The signal was coming from inside the mansion.
Everyone looked around.
Victor whispered:
“That can't be possible.”
Carter followed the signal.
Down the hallway.
Past the library.
Past his mother's room.
Toward the old study.
The room had been locked since his father disappeared.
Carter opened the door.
Inside, nothing had changed.
His father's desk.
His father's chair.
His father's books.
A framed photograph.
And a dusty old telephone.
The phone began ringing.
Nobody moved.
It rang again.
Carter approached.
He picked it up.
“Hello?”
Static.
Then a voice.
His father's voice.
“Carter.”
Carter's knees nearly gave way.
“Dad?”
A long silence followed.
Then Robert said:
“You found the archive.”
Carter stared at the others.
“You're alive.”
“I was.”
Carter froze.
“What does that mean?”
Robert's voice became quieter.
“Listen carefully.”
Carter gripped the phone.
“Where are you?”
“You can't come looking for me.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who controls this isn't Rebecca.”
Carter looked at Rebecca.
“Not Victor.”
He looked at Victor.
“Not Chloe.”
He looked at Chloe.
“Not your uncle.”
Carter's face changed.
“Then who?”
Robert paused.
“You already know.”
The line went dead.
Carter stood motionless.
Then the lights in the study turned on.
A hidden monitor appeared behind the bookshelf.
It showed the mansion's security system.
Every room.
Every hallway.
Every entrance.
And one live feed.
Carter's own bedroom.
Someone was standing inside it.
Carter stared.
The figure turned toward the camera.
The face was hidden in darkness.
Then the figure stepped into the light.
Carter stopped breathing.
It was someone standing in the library with him.
He slowly turned around.
Everyone was still there.
Except one person.
Carter's eyes moved across the room.
Eleanor.
Chloe.
Victor.
Rebecca.
His uncle.
Maya.
One of them was missing.
The monitor suddenly displayed a new message.
YOU SHOULD HAVE ASKED WHERE MAYA CAME FROM.
Carter looked toward the hallway.
“Maya?”
No answer.
He ran.
The corridor was empty.
The front door stood open.
Outside, a black car disappeared down the road.
Carter returned to the monitor.
A second file had appeared.
He opened it.
The title was:
DAY 114.
The recording began.
Maya entered the mansion.
She walked directly into the library.
She opened the hidden safe.
Then she looked directly into the camera.
And smiled.
Carter stared at the screen.
Behind him, Eleanor whispered:
“Now you understand.”
Carter turned.
“Understand what?”
Eleanor looked toward the empty doorway.
“That Maya was never hired to work here.”
Carter's blood ran cold.
“Then who sent her?”
Eleanor didn't answer.
The screen flickered.
A final message appeared.
THE REAL STORY BEGINS WHEN CARTER LEARNS WHOSE SON HE REALLY IS.
The monitor went black.
Carter stood in silence.
For the first time, he realized that the question he had been chasing for eight months had never been about who betrayed him.
It was about who had been protecting him.
And somewhere beyond the mansion gates, the person who knew the answer was already waiting.
The door behind Carter slowly opened.
A voice whispered:
“Carter…”
May you like
He turned.
And this time, the person standing there was someone he had believed was dead.
