Chapter 11 - the house built with a secret)
Daniel had purchased the Marbella property six years earlier.
The villa itself was only three years old.
He had demolished the original house and built the new one for Claire.
Yet according to Claire's ledger, someone paid nine hundred thousand euros for access to the property five years ago.
Daniel contacted the architect.
Then the construction manager.
Then the security installer.
By evening, one answer emerged.
Before demolition, the old estate had included an underground service tunnel.
Daniel had never known.
The architect sent original municipal plans.
A narrow passage ran from beneath the western garden toward an abandoned utility structure outside the property wall.
The tunnel had supposedly been sealed.
Supposedly.
Jonah and Ethan returned from Gibraltar after dark.
Ethan carried the recovered drives inside his jacket.
Daniel met them in the kitchen.
"The notebook?"
Jonah shook his head.
"Gone."
"Camera footage?"
"Masked person. Maintenance uniform."
"Man or woman?"
"Unknown."
Daniel looked at Ethan.
"You okay?"
His brother nodded.
"Still don't trust me?"
Daniel hesitated.
"Not completely."
Ethan almost smiled.
"Better than lying."
Daniel nodded.
They went downstairs.
The municipal plan showed the tunnel entrance behind the blue room.
Daniel stared at the wall where Isabella had been confined.
Jonah tapped the plaster.
Hollow.
They removed a shelving unit.
Behind it was a narrow panel.
Daniel pulled.
The wall opened.
Cold air moved through the room.
Beyond the panel, stone steps descended into darkness.
Daniel's anger became something else.
Beatriz had been placing Isabella in a room connected to a secret entrance beneath the house.
Had she known?
Had someone entered while Isabella was there?
Daniel turned to Jonah.
"We're not going down until police inspect it."
"Agreed."
Isabella's voice came from the doorway.
"What is that?"
Everyone turned.
Daniel immediately closed the panel.
"Sweetheart, you shouldn't be down here."
She stared at the wall.
"I heard something there."
Daniel froze.
"When?"
"When Beatriz locked me in."
His heart began pounding.
"What did you hear?"
"Walking."
No one moved.
"Inside the wall?"
She nodded.
"More than once?"
"Yes."
Daniel crouched.
"Did anyone ever come into the room?"
She shook her head.
"I don't think so."
"What did you hear?"
"Sometimes a door."
"Voices?"
"Once."
"What did they say?"
Isabella thought.
"A man said, 'Not while the girl is here.'"
Daniel looked at Jonah.
"Anything else?"
She nodded slowly.
"Beatriz said, 'Then come back at midnight.'"
Daniel's body went cold.
The tunnel was active.
Someone had been entering his property while he was away.
Maybe for years.
Police arrived quietly.
Daniel did not want patrol cars outside the villa alerting whoever might be watching.
A specialist unit inspected the passage.
The tunnel extended nearly one hundred meters.
Halfway through, they found fresh footprints.
At the far end, the sealed utility building had been fitted with a concealed modern door.
Someone had been using it recently.
Inside were empty shelves.
A folding chair.
Water bottles.
A battery pack.
And a router.
Mara examined it.
"This is how the hidden cameras transmitted data."
Daniel looked toward the tunnel.
"So they didn't need access to my network."
"They had their own."
Jonah inspected the shelves.
"Something was stored here."
"Recently?"
"Dust patterns say yes."
"What?"
"Boxes. Maybe equipment."
Police collected fingerprints.
Most were unusable.
One partial print remained.
They ran it.
The result came the next morning.
Beatriz.
Daniel was not surprised.
The second print was Adrian's.
Daniel stared at him across the kitchen.
Adrian's face went blank.
"I've never been in that tunnel."
Jonah placed the report down.
"Print is clear enough."
"Then it was planted."
Daniel laughed bitterly.
"You've been framed a lot lately."
Adrian stood.
"I came here to help."
"You came here because I called."
"I could have run."
"Maybe you thought running would look guilty."
Adrian looked toward Ethan.
"You know how evidence can be manipulated."
Ethan did not defend him.
Daniel stepped closer.
"Tell me something true."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"I loved Claire."
The room went silent.
Daniel stared at him.
"What?"
"Not romantically."
Adrian looked away.
"She was one of the only people who believed I wasn't like Victor."
Daniel felt disgust.
"You worked for him."
"Years ago."
"You never told me."
"I was ashamed."
"What did you do?"
Adrian's voice lowered.
"I moved money."
Daniel's fists tightened.
"Claire's money?"
"Her father's."
"How much?"
"Millions."
Daniel moved toward him.
Ethan stepped between them.
Adrian continued.
"I didn't know the full scheme at first."
"But you knew eventually."
"Yes."
"And stayed."
"For a time."
"Then what?"
"Claire found me."
Daniel stared.
"She knew."
"Yes."
"Why didn't she expose you?"
"Because I agreed to help her trace Hale."
Daniel looked toward the Gibraltar documents.
"You were her source."
"Partly."
"Then why did she write that she didn't know who to trust?"
"Because after she found the second ledger, she stopped trusting me too."
"Why?"
Adrian looked at him.
"I don't know."
Daniel did not believe him.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
This time, the voice was Beatriz's.
"Daniel."
He gestured for Mara to record.
"Where are you?"
"Safe."
"From whom?"
"You."
Daniel almost smiled.
"You locked my daughter in a room."
"That's not what happened."
"We have video."
Silence.
Then Beatriz whispered, "You found the camera."
"Yes."
"Then you haven't found the important one."
Daniel felt his pulse increase.
"What important one?"
"The camera Claire installed."
Adrian's face changed.
Daniel saw it.
Beatriz continued.
"She was watching someone long before I ever came to Marbella."
"Who?"
Beatriz laughed softly.
"You should ask the person standing closest to you."
The call ended.
Everyone looked at everyone else.
Daniel realized that was exactly what Beatriz wanted.
Suspicion.
Division.
Fear.
Then Mara's computer chimed.
She had found a device on the villa network.
Older than the current security system.
Installed five years ago.
Still transmitting.
May you like
The camera was hidden inside Daniel's office.
And according to the archive, someone had accessed its footage yesterday.
