Chapter 7: The Bedroom No One Was Supposed to Reach
Chapter 7: The Bedroom No One Was Supposed to Reach
The alarm echoed through the mansion.
Red emergency lights flashed across the ceilings.
Every guard on the estate sprang into motion.
Adrien was already moving before the announcement ended.
"Lily, stay with Cora."
"No!"
Lily grabbed his hand.
"I'm coming with you!"
"You are not."
His voice was firm.
"For once, you have to listen to me."
Tears filled Lily's eyes.
"But—"
"Cora."
Adrien turned to the elderly cook.
"Take her to the safe room."
Cora nodded immediately.
"I will."
She wrapped one arm around Lily's shoulders.
"Come with me, sweetheart."
Lily looked at her father.
"Promise you'll come back."
Adrien forced a small smile.
"I promise."
For the second time that day, he made a promise he prayed he could keep.
The head of security ran into the hallway.
"Sir!"
"The cameras lost the suspect on the third floor."
"How?"
"The feed was cut."
Adrien's expression hardened.
"Inside job?"
The guard nodded grimly.
"Looks that way."
Samuel Grayson followed several steps behind.
"They're after something."
"Or someone."
Adrien didn't answer.
He already knew.
The intruder wasn't wandering through the mansion.
He was heading straight for Lily's room.
As if he already knew the layout of the house.
As if he had been there before.
The thought made Adrien's stomach tighten.
The group reached the third floor.
Two security officers stood outside Lily's bedroom.
The door hung open.
One of the officers looked shaken.
"We were thirty seconds too late."
Adrien stepped inside.
The room looked untouched at first glance.
The pink curtains.
The stuffed animals.
The little white bookshelf.
The rocking chair where Evelyn used to read bedtime stories.
Everything seemed exactly as it had been.
Then Adrien noticed it.
The closet door was open.
The cardboard box they had found earlier was gone.
"So that's what he wanted."
Samuel slowly walked into the room.
"No."
He pointed toward the bookshelf.
"Look."
One shelf had been emptied.
Books lay scattered across the floor.
One small framed photograph had shattered against the wall.
Lily's favorite snow globe had rolled beneath the bed.
The intruder hadn't been searching carefully.
He had been searching desperately.
Adrien crouched beside the broken frame.
It showed Lily at three years old.
Sitting on Evelyn's lap.
Both of them laughing.
He carefully picked up the cracked glass.
Something slipped from behind the photograph.
A folded piece of paper.
Samuel saw it immediately.
"Don't unfold it yet."
Adrien looked up.
"Why?"
"It may explain why he came."
Adrien carefully opened the paper.
Inside was a child's drawing.
Crayon colors.
Crooked lines.
A smiling stick figure family.
Daddy.
Mommy.
Lily.
And...
One more person.
An older woman wearing a blue apron.
Above the drawing, in uneven handwriting, Lily had written:
"My Four Favorite People."
Adrien stared at it.
Cora had been part of Lily's family long before he realized it.
His chest tightened.
On the back of the drawing was another message.
Not written by Lily.
Written by Evelyn.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
If this drawing is ever hidden, stolen, or destroyed... it means someone is looking for what Lily remembers.
Adrien slowly turned the page over again.
"What does that mean?"
Samuel looked troubled.
"Evelyn never wasted words."
"If she wrote this..."
"...she believed Lily had seen something."
Adrien frowned.
"My daughter was four."
"Children notice details adults ignore."
Samuel looked around the room.
"They don't always understand them."
"But they remember."
Adrien suddenly looked toward the hallway.
"Where's Lily?"
The head of security answered.
"Cora took her to the panic room."
"Good."
Samuel shook his head.
"No."
Adrien turned sharply.
"What?"
"If the intruder believes Lily remembers something..."
"...the panic room is the first place he'll expect her to be."
Adrien's eyes widened.
He grabbed his radio.
"Security!"
A burst of static answered.
Then silence.
He tried again.
"Respond!"
Nothing.
The radios were dead.
Someone had jammed the signal.
The head of security cursed under his breath.
"They're blocking our frequencies."
Adrien was already running.
"Cora!"
"Lily!"
The hallway seemed longer than ever before.
Every second felt like a minute.
They reached the hidden elevator leading to the underground safe room.
The door stood open.
Adrien froze.
"It should be locked."
The security officer rushed forward.
The keypad had been ripped from the wall.
Sparks flickered from exposed wires.
"They forced it open."
Adrien's pulse thundered.
The elevator descended silently into the underground level.
The doors slid open.
The panic room door was still sealed.
Adrien pounded on it.
"Cora!"
"It's me!"
A moment later, the heavy steel door unlocked.
Cora stood inside, breathing hard.
Lily threw herself into Adrien's arms.
"Daddy!"
He hugged her tightly.
"I've got you."
"I'm right here."
Only then did he notice something.
Cora's left sleeve was torn.
A thin line of blood ran down her wrist.
Adrien frowned.
"You're hurt."
"It's nothing."
"What happened?"
Cora hesitated.
Then quietly answered.
"Someone tried to stop us before we reached the elevator."
The room became silent.
Adrien's expression darkened.
"You saw him?"
"No."
"He wore a black hood."
"I couldn't see his face."
"But..."
She stopped.
"But what?"
"He knew my name."
Adrien stared at her.
"He called you Cora."
She nodded.
"He said..."
Her voice trembled.
"'You should have burned the photograph twenty years ago.'"
Samuel slowly closed his eyes.
"He knows."
Adrien looked at him.
"Knows what?"
Samuel answered in a voice barely above a whisper.
"The missing photograph still exists."
Lily looked up.
"What photograph?"
Before anyone could answer—
A loud explosion shook the entire underground level.
Dust rained from the ceiling.
The lights flickered.
Emergency generators kicked in.
The head of security ran to the surveillance monitor.
His face turned white.
"Sir..."
Adrien stepped beside him.
The monitor showed flames rising from the east side of the mansion.
"The intruder..."
The guard swallowed hard.
"...set the library on fire."
Then the camera zoomed in automatically.
Standing on the snow-covered lawn...
Watching the flames without moving...
Was a tall man in a black coat.
He slowly looked up at the security camera.
Then, with a chilling smile...
May you like
He raised a silver ring engraved with a raven.
And disappeared into the darkness.
