Chapter 8 - THE BLUE ROOM

Daniel moved Harper before midnight.

Not to another bedroom.

Not to another wing.

To a reinforced safe room beneath Dominic’s private office.

Only four people knew it existed.

Dominic.

Daniel.

Elena.

And now Mia.

Harper sat on the small couch with a stuffed rabbit Elena had found for her.

She looked at Dominic.

“Is Mommy in trouble again?”

Dominic knelt.

“No.”

It was not entirely true.

Harper studied him.

“Are you lying?”

Dominic almost laughed.

“You ask dangerous questions.”

“My mommy says that too.”

Mia entered.

Harper ran to her.

Dominic stepped into the hallway.

Daniel approached.

“We’ve found two compromised guards.”

“Working for Samuel?”

“One admitted Nathan paid him.”

Nathan, standing ten feet away under watch, immediately shook his head.

“I never paid guards.”

Daniel ignored him.

Dominic did not.

“Bring him.”

They returned to the underground command room.

Nathan studied the security logs.

His expression changed.

“That isn’t mine.”

“Convenient,” Daniel said.

Nathan pointed.

“These authorization numbers are six digits.”

“Mine are five.”

Dominic looked.

Nathan was right.

Someone had created a second command structure.

Samuel’s.

A sound came from behind them.

Mia.

She had followed.

“I know those numbers.”

Dominic turned.

“From where?”

“The blue room.”

“What blue room?”

Mia looked toward Harper’s stuffed rabbit in her hands.

“When I was cleaning Claire’s dressing room two months ago, I found a note.”

“She walked in before I could read it.”

“I only saw two things.”

“Blue Room.”

“And 1217.”

Daniel typed 1217 into the archive search.

One result appeared.

ROOM B-12.

Dominic frowned.

“There is no B-12.”

Nathan looked up.

“Yes, there is.”

Dominic turned toward him.

Nathan looked embarrassed.

“It used to be your father’s communications room.”

“Where?”

“Under the chapel.”

Dominic stared.

“There’s nothing under the chapel.”

Nathan stood.

“There is if you know which stone to move.”

Twenty minutes later, they entered the private family chapel.

Nobody had used it since Isabella’s funeral.

Dust covered the pews.

Moonlight cut through stained glass.

Nathan walked toward the altar.

He knelt beside a blue stone embedded in the floor.

“Your mother called it the blue room because of this.”

Dominic suddenly remembered being a child.

His mother standing here.

Telling him never to play near the altar.

Nathan pressed the stone.

A hidden latch released.

The altar shifted.

A staircase appeared.

Daniel exhaled.

“This house needs fewer secrets.”

Dominic almost agreed.

They went down.

Room B-12 was larger than expected.

Old telephone equipment lined one wall.

New servers filled the other.

And in the center sat a desk.

On it rested a photograph.

Dominic picked it up.

Samuel Cross.

Older.

Gray-haired.

Alive.

Standing beside Claire.

The picture had been taken inside the Vale mansion.

Three weeks earlier.

Dominic turned it over.

One sentence was written on the back.

THE SON INHERITS THE FATHER’S DEBT.

Mia opened a desk drawer.

“Dominic.”

Inside was a list of names.

Judges.

Bankers.

Police officers.

Executives.

Doctors.

Dominic recognized people he had trusted for years.

Some names had checkmarks.

Others had dollar amounts.

Daniel stared.

“Samuel has people everywhere.”

Nathan moved toward a cabinet.

He opened it.

Then went still.

“What?”

Dominic asked.

Nathan removed a small envelope.

Inside were photographs of him.

Meeting Samuel.

Meeting Claire.

Entering hotels.

Accepting cash.

Nathan looked horrified.

Dominic understood instantly.

Samuel had built a case against his own son too.

Nathan whispered,

“He was going to bury me with you.”

Dominic said nothing.

Nathan laughed bitterly.

“I betrayed you for a father who planned to sacrifice me.”

Mia looked at him.

“That’s usually how betrayal works.”

Nathan lowered his eyes.

A computer monitor suddenly turned on by itself.

Everyone froze.

A live camera appeared.

The front gates.

A black sedan waited outside.

Then the image changed.

Claire.

Sitting in the back seat.

Samuel beside her.

Samuel looked directly into the camera.

As if he knew Dominic was watching.

Then words appeared across the screen.

BRING NATHAN TO THE EAST GATE.

MIDNIGHT.

OR THE GIRL’S SCHOOL OPENS TOMORROW WITH A SURPRISE.

Mia stopped breathing.

Dominic’s face changed.

Harper’s school.

Nathan whispered,

“He has people there.”

Dominic stared at Samuel on the monitor.

Samuel smiled.

Then the screen went black.

Daniel asked,

“What are we doing?”

Dominic looked at Nathan.

Nathan looked back.

For seventeen years, they had stood beside each other against everyone else.

Now trust had become a weapon between them.

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Dominic answered,

“We’re going to the gate.”