CHAPTER 2 — THE ROOM BEHIND THE MIRROR
The mansion locked down in less than thirty seconds.
Officer Ruiz pulled Emily behind a marble column while his partner drew her weapon.
“Everybody stay where you are!”
Guests crouched behind tables. Champagne glasses rolled across the floor. Somewhere upstairs, a woman cried out for help.
Victoria looked toward the staircase.
“Lauren?”
No answer.
The backup generator came on, filling the foyer with weak yellow light.
Ruiz removed one of Emily’s handcuffs and secured the other to the iron railing.
“Don’t move.”
“I’m not the person you should be worried about.”
He ran upstairs.
Victoria followed despite his warning.
Emily watched the guests whispering and filming. Her arrest was probably already online.
Her career was finished.
Her name was ruined.
And the person who framed her was moving through the house.
A figure appeared in the service corridor.
Marcus Reed, Victoria’s longtime driver.
He looked terrified.
“Emily.”
“Marcus, where were you when my bag was left in the hallway?”
He glanced toward the staircase.
“I saw someone near it.”
“Who?”
Before he could answer, Owen grabbed his arm.
“Not now.”
Marcus pulled away.
“She needs to know.”
Owen lowered his voice.
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
Emily stepped closer, the chain scraping against the railing.
“Then explain it.”
Marcus looked directly at her.
“It wasn’t Lauren.”
Emily’s pulse stumbled.
“What?”
“I saw a man pick up your bag.”
“Which man?”
The sound of running footsteps interrupted them.
Officer Ruiz returned.
“Lauren’s been found unconscious in the upstairs gallery.”
Victoria appeared behind him, pale but controlled.
“Someone hit her.”
Emily stared.
“Was the bracelet on her?”
“No.”
Ruiz unlocked Emily from the railing but kept one wrist cuffed.
“You’re coming with us.”
“To the station?”
“To show us where you left your bag.”
Emily led them through the kitchen into the narrow service hallway. The chair was still against the wall.
She pointed.
“Right there.”
Ruiz studied the floor.
A brass air vent sat beneath the chair.
One screw was loose.
Emily knelt.
“There’s something inside.”
Ruiz put on gloves and removed the vent cover.
Behind it was a small digital storage drive.
Owen’s face tightened.
Ruiz held it up.
“Security footage?”
Owen said nothing.
Victoria turned toward him.
“You told me the recording had been deleted.”
“It was.”
“Then why is a backup drive hidden in my wall?”
Owen’s jaw worked.
“I can explain.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You’ve been saying that for years.”
Ruiz plugged the drive into a laptop in the security room.
The video showed Emily leaving her handbag on the chair.
Three minutes later, a man entered the hallway.
He wore a waiter’s jacket and kept his face turned away.
He opened Emily’s bag.
He placed the velvet box inside.
Then he looked directly toward the camera.
Everyone in the room froze.
It was Owen.
Victoria slowly turned toward her security chief.
“You framed her?”
Owen backed toward the door.
“No.”
“The camera shows your face.”
“I was forced.”
“By whom?”
Owen reached inside his jacket.
Ruiz drew his weapon.
“Hands where I can see them!”
Owen pulled out a phone instead.
The screen displayed a live video feed.
Lauren was tied to a chair inside a dark room.
A masked man stood behind her holding a knife.
Owen’s voice cracked.
“They took my daughter three hours ago.”
Emily stared at him.
“Lauren isn’t your daughter.”
Owen looked at Victoria.
“No.”
Then he looked back at the screen.
“The girl in that room is.”
The masked man leaned toward the camera.
“Bring Victoria Hayes to the old guesthouse,” he said. “Or the girl dies.”
The screen went black.
Victoria whispered, “What old guesthouse?”
May you like
Emily’s face turned cold.
“The one your family burned down twenty years ago.”
