CHAPTER 5 — THE PRISONER IN THE WALL
Emily pressed her ear against the cold stone.
“Anna?”
A weak voice answered.
“Is Rebecca with you?”
“No.”
Silence followed.
Then Anna began to laugh.
It was not a joyful sound.
It was the exhausted laugh of someone who had waited too long for impossible news.
“Of course she isn’t.”
“You knew my mother?”
“She was my sister.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Another secret.
Another piece of her family buried beneath lies.
“How are you still alive?”
“They need me alive.”
“Why?”
“Because Vivian is not the eldest daughter.”
Emily looked at the photograph on the floor.
Rebecca had been Vivian’s younger sister.
Anna was older than both.
That meant Anna still controlled the bloodline.
The fortune.
The covenant Charles had mentioned.
“Charles said he needs two keys.”
“He needs three.”
Emily felt a flicker of hope.
“Where are they?”
“One belonged to me. One belonged to Rebecca. The final key was hidden with the child.”
“What child?”
Anna did not answer.
Footsteps echoed beyond Emily’s door.
“Someone’s coming,” Emily whispered.
“Do not let Dr. Vale take your blood.”
“Why?”
The lock turned.
Anna’s voice became urgent.
“He will use it to transfer the covenant.”
The door opened.
Dr. Vale entered with a medical bag.
Two guards followed him.
Emily stepped away from the wall.
“What are you doing?”
“Routine blood work.”
“No.”
Charles appeared behind the doctor.
“You don’t have a choice.”
The guards seized Emily’s arms.
She fought them.
Pain tore through her ribs, but she kept moving.
One guard twisted her wrist.
The other forced her against the bed.
Dr. Vale tied a rubber band around her arm.
Emily kicked the tray.
Glass tubes scattered across the floor.
Charles grabbed her hair.
“Stop fighting.”
“You’re afraid of my blood?”
He struck her across the face.
The room spun.
“Take the sample,” he ordered.
Dr. Vale pushed the needle into her arm.
Dark blood flowed into the tube.
Emily watched helplessly.
Charles held it up to the light.
“One step closer.”
“To what?”
“To making sure your family never threatens mine again.”
He handed the tube to Dr. Vale.
“Take it to the laboratory.”
The doctor left with one guard.
Charles followed.
The remaining guard chained Emily to the bed.
Then he locked the door.
Emily waited until the footsteps disappeared.
“Anna?”
No answer.
“Anna!”
A scraping sound came from behind the wall.
Then one of the stones shifted.
A narrow opening appeared near the floor.
A pale hand reached through.
Emily crawled toward it.
Anna passed her a thin piece of metal.
A handmade key.
“I have been working on that for nine years,” Anna whispered.
Emily inserted it into the lock around her ankle.
The mechanism opened.
For the first time since the party, she was free.
Anna continued moving stones.
The gap widened.
Emily pulled at the loose blocks until she could see into the next room.
A woman sat on the floor.
Her white hair reached her waist.
Her face was thin.
Her clothing looked decades old.
But her eyes were clear.
Anna Whitmore.
Emily reached through and touched her hand.
“We’re getting out.”
Anna shook her head.
“You are.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You have to stop the blood transfer.”
Emily helped widen the opening.
Together, they crawled through a narrow maintenance passage behind the cells.
The tunnel smelled of damp stone and rust.
Old electrical wires ran along the ceiling.
At the far end, Emily found a wooden staircase.
Music vibrated through the floor above them.
The Fourth of July party was still continuing.
Fireworks had begun over the ocean.
Each explosion shook dust from the ceiling.
Anna struggled to climb.
Emily supported her despite the pain in her own ribs.
They reached a hidden door behind the mansion’s wine cellar.
Emily opened it slightly.
Dr. Vale stood at a table twenty feet away.
Beside him was a portable laboratory device.
Charles watched as the machine processed Emily’s blood.
Vivian entered carrying an old leather case.
She opened it.
Inside were two brass keys.
Anna gripped Emily’s arm.
“Mine and Rebecca’s.”
“Then Charles has all three?”
“No.”
Anna pointed toward the machine.
A digital display showed a genetic match.
DIRECT HEIR CONFIRMED
Charles smiled.
“Now we only need the child.”
Emily felt Anna stiffen beside her.
“What child?” Emily whispered again.
Anna’s eyes filled with terror.
Before she could answer, the hidden door opened behind them.
Chief Reed stood there with his pistol raised.
He looked at Anna.
May you like
Then at Emily.
“I was hoping you would lead me to her.”
