Chapter 4 - Secrets of the East WingWhile the security team searched the perimeter, Margaret led me and Lucas to a secure panic room hidden behind a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf in the library.
"Stay here," Margaret instructed, locking the heavy steel door from the inside with a mechanical override key. "Adrian is furious, and a furious man cannot see straight. If anyone other than me or Adrian knocks using the three-tap rhythm, do not open it."
Inside the safe room, banks of emergency monitors displayed live feeds of the estate. I watched as Adrian’s men systematically searched every room. Heavy mahogany doors were forced open, antique furniture was overturned, and the once-pristine estate looked like a war zone.
As I paced the small, reinforced room, lulling Lucas back to sleep, a hidden intercom speaker on the wall crackled to life.
Click... static...
"Hannah..." a distorted, whispery voice hissed through the speaker.
I froze, my hand tightening around Lucas. "Who is that?"
"You think you're safe in that cage with the beast?" the voice continued, smooth and mocking. "Adrian brought you here because you smell like milk and grief. But he didn't tell you the truth about Isabel. He didn't tell you why she died."
"Show yourself!" I demanded, my heart hammering against my ribs.
"Isabel didn't die in childbirth, Hannah. Adrian killed her. Or rather, his enemies killed her to send a message. And now, they're going to finish his entire bloodline—starting with the bastard child you're holding."
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The transmission cut off with a sharp click.
I stared at the speaker in horror. Adrian killed Isabel? No. I had seen the way he looked at her photographs, the way his hands shook when he held her wedding ring. But then again, I had seen how easily he pulled a gun, how casually his men talked about violence. In the underworld, monsters were often disguised as grieving husbands.
