Chapter 8: The Secret Beneath The Mansion
The entire mansion fell silent.
Daniel stared at Claire.
“My wife?””
Claire nodded slowly.
“She’s alive.””
Nobody moved.
Lucas stopped breathing.
“Mommy?””
The word came out like a whisper.
Natalie looked at Daniel.
For years, he had lived with the belief that he had been abandoned.
Now, the impossible had returned.
A possibility.
A hope.
But Daniel did not look relieved.
He looked afraid.
“Where is she?””
Claire shook her head.
“I don’t know.””
The stranger laughed quietly.
“She never trusted you enough to tell you.””
Daniel turned toward him.
“Shut up.””
The man smiled.
“That’s why she chose Natalie.””
Natalie frowned.
“Chose me for what?””
Claire looked at her.
“To protect Lucas.””
The answer felt heavy.
Natalie looked at the boy beside her.
“Why me?””
Claire hesitated.
“Because she knew you would never see him as a weapon.””
Daniel looked confused.
“What does that mean?””
Claire took a breath.
“Lucas carries information.””
Daniel’s expression darkened.
“Inside his memories.””
“Yes.””
The stranger interrupted.
“And your wife hid it there.””
Natalie looked at Lucas.
“That’s impossible.””
Claire shook her head.
“No. She knew nobody would search a child.””
Lucas looked scared.
“Search for what?””
Nobody answered.
Daniel knelt in front of him.
“Lucas.””
The boy looked at him.
“Do you remember anything strange?””
Lucas thought.
Then slowly nodded.
“A song.””
Daniel frowned.
“What song?””
“Mommy used to sing it.””
Claire’s face changed.
“What song?””
Lucas hummed softly.
A simple melody.
A melody nobody in the room recognized.
Except Claire.
She covered her mouth.
“No…”
Natalie looked at her.
“You know it.””
Claire’s eyes filled with fear.
“She used it as a code.””
Daniel stood.
“For what?””
Claire looked toward the floor.
“Something hidden.””
The stranger suddenly stepped forward.
“Enough.””
Daniel immediately turned.
The man looked at Lucas.
“We’re leaving.””
Lucas backed away.
“No.””
The stranger’s expression hardened.
“You don’t understand.””
Daniel moved between them.
“You’re not taking him.””
The man laughed.
“You still think this is about custody?””
He looked around the mansion.
“Your wife hid something here.””
Daniel froze.
“What?””
The stranger smiled.
“The one place she knew you would never search.””
Natalie looked around.
The mansion.
The walls.
The locked rooms.
Then she remembered.
The photograph.
The letters.
The bedroom.
“The mansion.””
Claire nodded.
“She hid it here.””
Daniel looked around.
“But I searched every room.””
“No.””
Claire looked at him.
“You searched every room you knew existed.””
Everyone became silent.
Natalie looked up.
“What room don’t we know exists?””
Daniel’s face changed.
Because there was one place.
A place even he had never opened.
A hidden room beneath the mansion.
Built by his grandfather.
A room mentioned only once in old family documents.
A room Daniel thought was just a rumor.
The stranger smiled.
“You know exactly where.””
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“No.””
Natalie looked at him.
“Daniel?””
He stared at the floor.
“When I was a child, my father told me never to enter the basement below the east wing.””
“Why?””
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Because something was hidden there.””
The stranger nodded.
“And now you will finally see it.””
They moved toward the east wing.
Lucas held Natalie’s hand.
Every step felt heavier.
When they reached the basement door, Daniel stopped.
The old lock was covered in dust.
Nobody had touched it in decades.
He inserted the key.
The door opened with a deep crack.
Cold air rushed out.
Inside was darkness.
Then Natalie saw something carved into the wall.
A symbol.
The same symbol from her forgotten memory.
She touched it.
And suddenly, a voice echoed in her mind.
Her own voice.
From three years ago.
“If I forget…”
She froze.
“If I forget, bring me back here.””
Daniel looked at her.
“What did you say?””
Natalie stepped away from the wall.
Because the memory was returning.
And this time, she saw the person standing beside her.
The person who helped her hide the truth.
May you like
Lucas’s mother.
Alive.
