Chapter 14 - The Final DoorDaniel took a flashlight.
Maria followed.
Sarah stayed with Olivia and Noah.
They reached the basement.
Three knocks again.
Daniel looked toward the wall.
“It's coming from behind here.”
He moved the crates.
A steel door appeared.
It had no handle.
Only the silver triangle.
Maria remembered the watch.
Daniel pressed the hidden mechanism.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed out.
Inside was a small room.
And sitting on the floor was an elderly woman.
Maria froze.
“Grace?”
The woman lifted her head.
Her hair was gray.
Her face thin.
But the eyes were unmistakable.
Grace Miller.
Alive.
Maria rushed toward her.
“You're alive.”
Grace smiled weakly.
“Barely.”
Daniel knelt.
“Who did this to you?”
Grace looked at him.
“Your family.”
Daniel stepped back.
“My family?”
“Not your mother.”
“Then who?”
Grace looked toward the ceiling.
“Your father.”
Daniel's face hardened.
“Why?”
“Because he knew the Silver Circle would eventually turn on him.”
Grace coughed.
“He hid evidence.”
“Where?”
Grace pointed toward Maria.
“Your father trusted her father.”
Maria's eyes filled.
“He knew my father?”
“He owed him his life.”
Daniel asked,
“Why was Maria hired?”
Grace smiled.
“Because I arranged it.”
Maria stared.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grace's voice weakened.
“Because I needed someone inside this house who would never be suspected.”
Maria felt a chill.
“Suspected of what?”
“Protecting Noah.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“So Maria was protecting him all along?”
Grace nodded.
“The threat was never from her.”
Sarah entered the room.
“Grace.”
Grace looked at her.
“You finally came.”
Sarah began crying.
“You knew?”
“I knew your mother.”
Sarah stepped closer.
“What did she do?”
Grace looked at Noah.
“She made a mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“She believed the Silver Circle could be controlled.”
Daniel whispered,
“And Noah?”
Grace reached for his hand.
“Your father discovered the truth before he died.”
“What truth?”
Grace looked at Maria.
“Read your father's notebook.”
Maria opened it.
The final page contained a name.
Not Victor.
Not Ethan.
Not Sarah.
A name Maria had never seen.
Then the basement lights came on.
A man stood in the doorway.
Daniel turned.
Victor.
He was holding a gun.
“Give me the notebook.”
Maria stepped backward.
Victor pointed the weapon at her.
Daniel moved in front of Maria.
“You want the notebook?”
Victor nodded.
“Then take it.”
Daniel threw it across the floor.
Victor bent to pick it up.
Grace suddenly laughed.
Victor stopped.
“What?”
Grace said,
“You still haven't figured it out.”
Victor looked confused.
“The notebook is useless.”
He stared at her.
Grace smiled.
“The real evidence was never in the book.”
Victor's face changed.
“Where is it?”
Grace looked at Noah.
“The baby.”
Silence.
Victor slowly lowered the gun.
“What?”
Grace whispered,
“His blood carries the truth.”
Daniel's face went pale.
Victor looked toward the stairs.
Then suddenly smiled.
“Then you have already lost.”
He raised the gun.
A loud crack echoed through the basement.
Daniel collapsed.
Maria screamed.
But when she looked again…
Daniel was still standing.
The bullet had hit the notebook.
May you like
And behind Victor, another figure appeared.
Ethan.
