Chapter 8 - VIVIEN KNOCKED ON THE WRONG DOOR
Rosa backed away from the front door.
Lily was upstairs with Margaret.
Two guards were posted at the property gate, but the house sat on several wooded acres and had a second shoreline entrance.
Someone had either bypassed the security perimeter or been allowed through.
Neither possibility comforted her.
Nathaniel remained on the phone.
“Go to the panic room.”
“What panic room?”
“Library.”
“Bookshelf behind the desk.”
“Press the brass button underneath the third shelf.”
Rosa ran.
“Margaret and Lily are upstairs.”
“The panic room has an internal stair access.”
“You’re joking.”
“My father was paranoid.”
“For once, I love your father.”
Rosa found the button.
A section of shelving opened soundlessly.
She stared.
“Of course rich people have secret rooms.”
Nathaniel almost laughed despite the terror.
“Rosa.”
“Right.”
She rushed upstairs using the hidden staircase.
Margaret was already standing awkwardly with her walker.
“What’s happening?”
“Vivien is outside.”
Margaret’s face hardened.
“Give me my cane.”
“You can barely stand.”
“I can still hit someone.”
“No.”
Rosa grabbed Lily.
“Secret room.”
Lily’s eyes widened.
“We have secret room?”
“Apparently.”
They descended.
Nathaniel spoke through the phone.
“Lock it once you’re inside.”
“What about the guards?”
“Malcolm is contacting them.”
A loud crash sounded from the ground floor.
Rosa froze.
“She’s inside.”
Nathaniel’s voice changed.
“Move.”
They entered the room.
Rosa shut the steel door.
Bolts engaged automatically.
Inside were monitors.
Emergency supplies.
A landline.
Margaret looked around.
“I told Henry this was ridiculous.”
“Henry was your husband?”
Rosa asked.
“Yes.”
“I take back every bad thing I thought about him.”
Lily whispered, “Miss Vivien bad?”
Margaret looked at the child.
“Yes, sweetheart.”
This time nobody corrected her.
On the monitor, the foyer appeared.
Vivien entered alone.
She wore black pants, a gray coat, and gloves.
No tears.
No elegant social smile.
Her face looked entirely different.
Hard.
Impatient.
She glanced around.
Then spoke.
“Rosa.”
No answer.
Vivien walked toward the kitchen.
“Rosa, I know Nathaniel moved you here.”
Margaret looked at the screen.
“How?”
Rosa whispered.
Vivien continued.
“He thinks he’s very clever.”
She opened a door.
Checked the room.
“But Nathaniel has always had one weakness.”
Margaret murmured, “His ego.”
Vivien almost seemed to answer through the monitor.
“He believes loyalty is permanent.”
Nathaniel heard everything through Rosa’s phone.
He and Malcolm were racing north.
Police were six minutes behind.
Vivien entered the library.
Rosa’s hand flew to her mouth.
Vivien paused.
Looked directly at the bookshelf hiding them.
Lily pressed closer to Margaret.
Vivien smiled.
Then turned away.
“She doesn’t know,” Rosa whispered.
Margaret said nothing.
Vivien sat at the desk.
Removed her gloves.
And spoke loudly.
“Rosa, Peter Voss is going to kill you.”
Nathaniel’s car went silent.
Vivien continued.
“If you can hear me, understand something.”
“I am the only person who can stop him.”
Rosa stared at the monitor.
Margaret scoffed softly.
“Convenient.”
Vivien leaned back.
“I did not order anyone to hurt Lily.”
Nathaniel’s grip tightened on the phone.
“She’s recording a defense,” Malcolm said.
Nathaniel nodded.
Vivien continued.
“Peter killed Meadows.”
“He took Howard Bell.”
“He has been controlling everything.”
Margaret whispered, “She’s turning on him.”
Vivien looked toward the bookshelf.
“I made mistakes.”
“Yes.”
“I pushed Margaret.”
Rosa’s eyes widened.
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
Vivien had just confessed.
The hidden-room recording system captured every word.
Vivien continued.
“But I did not mean to kill her.”
“I panicked.”
“She threatened me.”
“She was going to destroy everything.”
Nathaniel closed his eyes.
Malcolm whispered, “We have her.”
But Vivien wasn’t finished.
“I can help you.”
“Bring Lily out.”
“Let me speak with her.”
Rosa felt sick.
Margaret shook her head.
“Never.”
Vivien stood.
“If Voss reaches this house before the police, none of us leave.”
Rosa whispered into the phone.
“Could she be telling the truth?”
Nathaniel answered.
“Do not trust her.”
A sound came from outside.
Car tires.
Vivien heard it too.
She looked toward the window.
For the first time, real fear appeared.
“Damn it.”
She ran toward the foyer.
The front door opened.
Peter Voss entered.
Rosa recognized him from photographs.
Tall.
Gray hair.
Expensive coat.
A pistol in his right hand.
Vivien stopped.
“You weren’t supposed to come here.”
Voss smiled.
“You weren’t supposed to improvise.”
Nathaniel heard the exchange through the phone.
Malcolm grabbed his radio.
“Police are two minutes out.”
Voss closed the door.
“You contacted Nathaniel?”
“No.”
“Howard is alive.”
Vivien’s expression flickered.
“I heard.”
“He spoke.”
“We don’t know that.”
Voss stepped closer.
“You are sloppy when frightened.”
Vivien lowered her voice.
“Rosa and the child are here.”
“I know.”
Rosa’s blood ran cold.
Voss knew.
He looked around the room.
“Where?”
Vivien hesitated.
“I don’t know.”
Voss smiled.
“Yes, you do.”
He moved toward the library.
Rosa looked at the steel door.
Could it withstand bullets?
Probably.
Could it withstand someone who knew the house?
She didn’t know.
Voss entered the library.
His gaze moved slowly across the shelves.
Margaret whispered, “He knows about the room.”
“How?”
“Henry showed him years ago.”
Rosa stared at her.
“You might have mentioned that sooner.”
“I only just remembered.”
Voss approached the hidden door.
Lily began trembling.
Rosa knelt.
“Look at me.”
Lily’s eyes filled.
“Don’t make a sound.”
Voss reached beneath the shelf.
Pressed the brass button.
Nothing happened.
The room was locked internally.
His smile vanished.
“There.”
Vivien stepped backward.
“Peter, police could already be coming.”
“Then we hurry.”
He raised the gun toward the bookshelf.
Vivien grabbed his arm.
“No.”
Voss spun and struck her across the face.
She crashed against the desk.
Rosa flinched.
Voss aimed again.
“Open it!”
Silence.
“I know you’re in there.”
Margaret leaned toward the intercom.
Rosa stopped her.
“No.”
Voss fired.
The bullet struck the reinforced panel.
Lily buried her face against Rosa’s chest.
Nathaniel heard the gunshot through the phone.
“Rosa!”
“We’re okay.”
Another shot.
“Thirty seconds,” Malcolm said.
Voss shouted.
“Open the door or I burn the house.”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
“He would.”
Vivien got up slowly.
Blood touched her lip.
“Peter.”
He ignored her.
She looked toward the hidden room.
Then toward the gun.
Something changed.
Perhaps survival.
Perhaps guilt.
Perhaps the realization that Voss intended to kill her too.
Vivien grabbed a bronze sculpture from the desk.
She swung.
It struck Voss’s wrist.
The pistol fired into the ceiling.
Voss roared.
Vivien hit him again.
He turned and threw her against the wall.
Then police sirens exploded outside.
Voss froze.
Nathaniel’s vehicle screeched into the driveway seconds later.
Officers surrounded the house.
“Drop the weapon!”
Voss ran toward the back.
Malcolm entered with police.
Nathaniel followed despite three officers ordering him to stay outside.
Voss fired once toward the kitchen.
Police returned fire.
Glass shattered.
Then silence.
“Suspect down!”
Nathaniel ran to the library.
“Rosa!”
The bookshelf remained closed.
He found the button.
Nothing.
“Internal lock,” Margaret called through the intercom.
“Mother?”
“Yes.”
“You’re alive.”
“Obviously.”
Rosa unlocked the mechanism.
The door opened.
Lily flew out first.
“Mr. Nathaniel!”
He dropped to his knees.
She crashed into him.
Nathaniel wrapped both arms around her.
His eyes closed.
For several seconds, the billionaire who had spent his life controlling every emotion held a three-year-old child like the world had nearly ended.
Rosa stepped out.
Nathaniel stood.
Their eyes met.
He wanted to say something.
Thank you.
I’m sorry.
You’re safe.
Nothing seemed enough.
So he asked, “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Margaret emerged behind them.
“Where’s Vivien?”
Nathaniel looked toward the foyer.
Police had her seated on the floor in handcuffs.
She was bleeding from the mouth.
Her eyes found Nathaniel.
For the first time since he had met her, she looked ordinary.
Not elegant.
Not flawless.
Just frightened.
“Nathaniel.”
He stopped several feet away.
Vivien began crying.
These tears were different.
Messy.
Desperate.
“Peter made me do it.”
Nathaniel stared at her.
“You pushed my mother.”
“I panicked.”
“You forged documents.”
“He forced me.”
“You lied to me for three years.”
Her face crumpled.
“I loved you.”
Nathaniel’s voice remained calm.
“No.”
Vivien looked shattered.
“You loved what you thought you could take from me.”
She shook her head violently.
“That isn’t true.”
Nathaniel looked at the engagement ring.
“Then why are you still wearing it?”
Vivien glanced down.
Nathaniel’s expression became cold.
“Take it off.”
“Nathaniel—”
“Take it off.”
With trembling fingers, she removed the diamond.
An officer held out an evidence bag.
Vivien dropped the ring inside.
Nathaniel turned away.
Behind him, Peter Voss was carried out alive with a gunshot wound through the shoulder.
The conspiracy had finally become visible.
But as Malcolm approached Nathaniel, his face remained grim.
“This isn’t over.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“Why?”
Malcolm held up Voss’s phone.
“There’s a scheduled message.”
“To whom?”
“We don’t know.”
“What does it say?”
Malcolm read from the screen.
IF I’M ARRESTED, RELEASE EVERYTHING ON WHITMORE.
Nathaniel’s pulse slowed.
“What everything?”
Malcolm looked at him.
May you like
“That’s what we have to find out.”
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