Chapter 5 - The Last WillMy father’s face appeared on the television.
And he looked terrified.
Not angry.
Not calculating.
Terrified.
For the first time since I'd seen him on that screen, the expression in his eyes looked real.
“Get out,” he said.
Richard turned.
“What?”
The television crackled.
My father leaned closer to the camera.
“Richard, listen to me.”
Richard stared at the screen.
“You’re dead.”
“I was supposed to stay that way.”
Richard raised his pistol toward the television.
“You don’t get to give orders anymore.”
My father’s voice dropped.
“If you kill my son, you lose everything.”
Richard laughed.
“You already lost everything.”
“No.”
My father looked directly into the camera.
“You just don’t know what I left him.”
Richard’s expression changed.
Only for a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
The same fear Vanessa had shown in the storage room.
The same fear I'd seen on Claire’s face.
I grabbed the edge of the tunnel.
“Claire, move.”
She pulled Lily deeper into the passage.
Vanessa followed.
One of the masked men lunged toward me.
I kicked the service hatch into his face.
He stumbled backward.
I dropped into the tunnel and yanked the hatch shut.
A gunshot thundered against the metal.
Lily screamed.
“Dad!”
“I’ve got you.”
Claire crawled ahead of us.
“Keep moving.”
The tunnel was barely wide enough for our shoulders.
Dust filled my mouth.
Pipes crossed the ceiling every few feet.
Some were hot.
Others shook whenever the building’s machinery started.
Behind us, Richard shouted.
“Daniel!”
Another shot.
“Stop running!”
I kept crawling.
“What is this place?” I asked.
Claire didn't turn.
“An escape route.”
“You knew about it?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since the night I disappeared.”
I stopped.
“What?”
She turned around.
Her face was barely visible in the darkness.
“I woke up in this tunnel.”
My stomach tightened.
“After they took you?”
“Yes.”
“Who took you?”
Claire's eyes moved to Vanessa.
“Ask her.”
Vanessa crawled closer.
“I told you, Daniel. I was trying to help.”
“You drugged me.”
“I didn't.”
“You said there was something in my water.”
“I put sleeping medication in your glass.”
I stared at her.
“You admitted it.”
“I gave you enough to make you sleep. Nothing more.”
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire asked me to.”
Claire looked at me.
“I needed you unconscious.”
“Why?”
“Because my father’s people were searching the house.”
“And you thought drugging me was the answer?”
“I thought getting you out alive was.”
Something crashed behind us.
Vanessa shouted, “They're through!”
We crawled faster.
The tunnel ended at a vertical ladder.
Claire climbed first.
I followed with Lily.
Vanessa came last.
I pushed open a steel cover.
Cold night air hit my face.
We emerged into the old greenhouse behind the estate.
The glass roof was cracked.
Dead vines covered the walls.
I pulled Lily into my arms.
She buried her face in my neck.
“Are they coming?”
“Not yet.”
Claire climbed out and immediately doubled over, coughing.
I knelt beside her.
“Are you okay?”
She nodded.
Then she looked at the greenhouse door.
“We have to keep moving.”
“Where?”
“Your father’s study.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because that's where he kept the original documents.”
“Documents proving what?”
“Everything.”
Vanessa shut the tunnel entrance.
“He's right behind us.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
“Richard.”
She locked the steel cover.
“Not just Richard.”
“Who else?”
She hesitated.
“Your father.”
I felt my body go still.
“He’s alive.”
“I know.”
“You've seen him?”
Vanessa nodded.
“Twice.”
“Where?”
“In this house.”
The words made my skin crawl.
“How?”
“He has another entrance.”
Claire stood.
“We don't have time.”
We crossed the greenhouse and entered the main house through a side door.
The corridors were dark.
Every room looked exactly as it had eighteen months ago.
That was somehow worse.
My life had been falling apart while the house stayed untouched.
I led them toward my father's study.
The study door was locked.
I tried the handle.
Nothing.
Claire said, “Use your key.”
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
I frowned.
She pointed to my watch.
“The old brass key.”
I stared at my wrist.
Six years ago, my father had given me a watch after my wedding.
I'd worn it every day.
I'd never noticed the tiny screw beneath the clasp.
I opened it.
A miniature brass key dropped into my palm.
My fingers went numb.
“Why would my father hide a key in my watch?”
“Because he knew you'd keep wearing it.”
I unlocked the study.
The door opened.
Everything inside was covered in dust.
Except the desk.
There were fresh fingerprints across it.
Someone had been here recently.
Vanessa locked the door behind us.
Claire went straight to the bookshelf.
“Third shelf.”
I moved beside her.
“Which book?”
“The green one.”
I pulled a thick ledger.
Nothing happened.
Claire said, “Turn it upside down.”
I did.
A click sounded behind the shelves.
The bookcase swung open.
A safe was built into the wall.
Vanessa whispered, “I never knew about that.”
Claire looked at her.
“That was the point.”
I inserted the brass key.
The safe opened.
Inside was a folder.
One folder.
No money.
No jewelry.
No weapons.
Just papers.
And a photograph.
I picked up the photograph.
My hands started shaking.
It showed me as a child.
My father stood behind me.
My mother beside us.
But there was another person in the photograph.
A man standing in the background.
Richard.
He looked exactly the same.
Not younger.
Exactly the same.
I turned the photo over.
There was writing on the back.
Daniel is not my son.
I looked at Claire.
“What does this mean?”
She said nothing.
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Turn the page.”
There was another photograph beneath it.
Claire as a teenager.
Vanessa beside her.
And my father standing behind them.
On the back:
They know what she is.
My heart pounded.
“What is this?”
Claire whispered, “I don't know.”
I looked at her.
“You knew something.”
“I knew there was a secret.”
“What secret?”
Before she could answer, the study door shook.
Someone was outside.
Richard's voice came through.
“Daniel.”
I stepped away from the door.
“Open it.”
“No.”
“You have the documents.”
I looked down at the folder.
“How do you know?”
“Because your father told me where they were.”
Another impact.
The door trembled.
Claire whispered, “There’s another way out.”
“Where?”
She pointed toward the fireplace.
“Behind it.”
I rushed over.
The fireplace was enormous.
Stone.
Heavy.
I searched the edges.
Nothing.
Vanessa said, “The mantel.”
I looked up.
A brass horse stood on the mantelpiece.
I turned it.
The fireplace shifted.
A narrow opening appeared behind it.
Richard shouted from the hallway.
“Daniel, if you leave through that passage, you're going to regret it.”
I looked at Claire.
“What’s waiting down there?”
She hesitated.
“The truth.”
“About my father?”
“About you.”
The study door splintered.
One of the masked men shouted.
“Almost through!”
I grabbed Lily's hand.
“Go.”
Claire entered the passage.
Vanessa followed.
I was about to climb through when something slid beneath the study door.
A single sheet of paper.
I picked it up.
My father’s handwriting.
Only six words.
The woman you married was never Claire.
I stared at the sentence.
Claire turned around.
“Daniel?”
I looked at her.
She froze.
The study door exploded inward.
Richard stepped through the smoke.
He lowered his pistol.
And behind him stood my father.
Alive.
Older than the man on the screen.
But unmistakably him.
My father looked at me.
Then at Claire.
Then at the paper in my hand.
His face collapsed.
“Daniel,” he whispered.
“You need to come with me.”
I couldn't move.
“Why?”
He looked at Claire.
“Because that's not your wife.”
Claire screamed.
“Daniel, don't listen to him!”
My father took one step forward.
“The real Claire died eighteen months ago.”
And Vanessa whispered from the passage behind me,
“That’s a lie.”
May you like
Then the woman standing beside Claire slowly lifted her face into the light.
And I realized I had never seen her before.
Related Stories