Chapter 4 - Behind the Locked Wing
Roman had not entered the east wing in nine years.
The corridor had been sealed behind carved double doors.
Helena always claimed the structure had electrical problems.
Roman had never believed that explanation.
Until tonight, he had never cared enough to challenge it.
Now Sophie was somewhere behind those doors.
Daniel followed him.
Roman turned.
“The note said alone.”
“I’m not letting you go in there alone.”
“If whoever took Sophie sees you—”
“I’ll stay behind.”
Roman wanted to argue.
He didn’t.
He unlocked the corridor.
Dust coated the floor.
The air smelled stale.
Wall sconces flickered as Roman switched on the lights.
Nothing had changed.
Arthur’s old paintings still hung on the walls.
A bronze clock still stood beside the staircase.
Roman remembered being twelve years old and sneaking through this corridor while his father worked.
Arthur hated interruptions.
But Sophie had changed him.
The old man could be ruthless with everyone else.
With his granddaughter, he had been ridiculous.
Roman moved deeper into the wing.
“Sophie?”
No answer.
At the end of the hallway stood Arthur’s private office.
The door was open.
Roman stopped.
It had always been locked.
Inside, a lamp burned.
Someone had been there recently.
Roman entered.
His father’s desk stood exactly where he remembered.
Behind it was an enormous painting of the Vale family estate.
Roman searched the room.
“Sophie?”
Nothing.
Then he saw the safe.
The east-wing safe.
Claire’s letter had mentioned it.
Its door was open.
Roman approached.
Empty.
Except for a child’s bracelet.
Pink beads.
Silver clasp.
Roman knew it instantly.
Sophie had worn it as a baby.
He picked it up.
His chest tightened.
A noise came from behind the wall.
Roman turned.
“Sophie?”
Another sound.
Three faint knocks.
Roman crossed the room.
The painting.
He pulled it aside.
A narrow metal door was hidden behind it.
There was no handle.
Only a keypad.
Roman stared.
Four digits.
417.
He entered them.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Darkness.
Roman stepped inside.
The hidden room was smaller than he expected.
Shelves covered the walls.
Boxes.
Files.
Old computers.
A television monitor.
And in the corner—
“Sophie.”
She was sitting on the floor.
Her wrists were not tied.
She appeared unharmed.
Roman crossed the room and dropped beside her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“What happened?”
“I followed Mom.”
Roman stopped.
“What?”
Sophie pointed toward the monitor.
A figure stood beside it.
Roman had not seen her in the darkness.
A thin woman.
Long dark hair.
Pale face.
Roman could not move.
Claire stepped into the light.
Nine years of memory collided with the present.
She looked older.
Exhausted.
But unmistakably alive.
Roman stood slowly.
“Claire.”
Her eyes filled.
“Roman.”
Sophie smiled through her tears.
“I told you Mom wasn’t dead.”
Roman stared at the woman whose funeral he had attended seven years earlier.
Claire took one step toward him.
He stepped back.
The movement hurt her.
He saw it.
He could not help it.
“You were alive.”
“Yes.”
“All this time.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me bury you?”
Claire’s voice broke.
“I had no choice.”
“There is always a choice.”
“Not when your child is being hunted.”
Roman looked at Sophie.
“She was a baby.”
“That’s exactly why.”
“Who was hunting her?”
Claire glanced at the shelves around them.
“Your father called it the Circle.”
Roman frowned.
“What Circle?”
“A group of people who used Vale Holdings to move money.”
“For what?”
“Bribes.”
Roman stared.
“Trafficking influence.”
“Judges.”
“Police.”
“Regulators.”
“Foreign accounts.”
Claire’s voice lowered.
“And murders when someone became a problem.”
Roman shook his head.
“This sounds insane.”
“I know.”
“Why Sophie?”
“Because Arthur put the evidence in her name.”
Roman stopped.
“What?”
Claire opened one of the boxes.
Inside were legal documents.
She handed him a trust amendment.
Arthur Vale’s signature appeared at the bottom.
Roman read quickly.
Upon Arthur’s death, control over a private evidence trust would transfer not to Roman—
but to Sophie.
Roman looked up.
“She was six months old.”
“That was the point.”
“No one would suspect her.”
Claire nodded.
“Arthur knew he was being watched.”
“So he used my child as a shield?”
“He used her identity as a vault.”
Roman’s face hardened.
“Where is the evidence?”
Claire looked at Sophie.
The little girl reached into her pocket.
She removed a tiny wooden horse.
Roman recognized it.
Not the original.
A miniature copy.
Claire took it.
She twisted the base.
A small flash drive slid out.
Roman stared.
“The original drive?”
“No.”
Claire’s expression changed.
“This is the copy.”
“Where is the original?”
“That is why I came back.”
Roman’s pulse quickened.
“Who has it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then why tonight?”
Claire looked toward the hidden door.
“Because Helena contacted me.”
Roman went still.
“My mother?”
“She said someone had finally found Sophie.”
Roman’s mind raced.
“Then she knew you were alive.”
“For years.”
“You worked together?”
“Sometimes.”
Roman laughed without humor.
“My wife and my mother spent eight years lying to me together.”
Claire looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
“Was there anything in my life that was real?”
“Sophie.”
Roman looked at his daughter.
His anger softened for one heartbeat.
Then returned.
“Why bring her here?”
“I didn’t.”
Roman frowned.
“Then who left the note?”
Claire’s face tightened.
“I thought you did.”
Roman stared.
The lights suddenly went out.
Sophie gasped.
Roman grabbed her.
A metallic sound came from the hidden doorway.
Claire whispered.
“Roman.”
“What?”
“The door.”
It slammed shut.
Roman ran toward it.
Locked.
Daniel’s voice came faintly from the other side.
“Roman!”
Roman hit the metal.
“Daniel!”
A hiss filled the room.
Claire’s face changed.
“What is that?”
Roman smelled it.
Smoke.
Not from the room.
From the ventilation shaft.
Sophie coughed.
Roman looked upward.
Someone had sealed them inside.
Then Daniel shouted through the door.
May you like
“Roman, the east wing is on fire!”
---
