CHAPTER 3 — THE FOURTH BASEMENT
CHAPTER 3 — THE FOURTH BASEMENT
The memory card was smaller than my fingernail.
Yet somehow, it felt heavier than the entire Blackwood estate.
I kept staring at my father's handwriting.
DO NOT TRUST THE MAN BESIDE YOU.
The words had been written twelve years ago.
Before my father died.
Before I knew the Blackwoods had lied about my past.
Before I knew Damian was my brother.
Before I understood that Victor Blackwood had spent years building an empire on secrets.
And now I had no idea who the warning referred to.
Marcus?
Chief Harrison?
Damian?
Or someone else standing quietly in the ballroom?
I closed my fingers around the card.
“What's on it?” Marcus asked.
I looked at him.
“I don't know.”
“Then let's find out.”
Chief Harrison stepped toward us.
“Miss Vale, you need to hand that over.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“That may be evidence.”
“It belongs to me.”
“It may contain evidence relating to a homicide.”
“So does every person in this room.”
The guests fell silent.
Harrison glanced toward Damian.
Then back at me.
“You're making this difficult.”
“No.”
I looked toward Victor's body.
“Someone else already did that.”
Before Harrison could respond, the lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then the entire ballroom went dark.
People screamed.
I heard chairs scraping across the floor.
Someone knocked over a table.
Glass shattered.
Then a man's voice came through the speakers.
Low.
Distorted.
Almost mechanical.
“Welcome home, Elena.”
My blood went cold.
Marcus grabbed my arm.
“Stay close.”
The voice continued.
“You spent twelve years looking for the truth.”
A pause.
“Now you're standing on top of it.”
I looked toward the floor.
“What does that mean?”
The voice laughed softly.
“You'll find out.”
A red light appeared above the stage.
Then another.
A line of lights illuminated the marble floor.
They formed an arrow.
Pointing toward the eastern corridor.
A door opened.
Beyond it was darkness.
The voice spoke again.
“Basement.”
I didn't move.
“Level four.”
Marcus stared at me.
“There is no level four.”
The voice laughed.
“There is now.”
Then everything went silent.
The lights returned.
The mysterious transmission ended.
Nobody spoke.
Finally, Damian broke the silence.
“Don't go down there.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because my father never allowed anyone near that part of the house.”
“You knew about it?”
He hesitated.
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Not much.”
“That's not an answer.”
Damian looked at the floor.
“When I was a child, I heard noises beneath the house.”
“What kind of noises?”
“Machines.”
He swallowed.
“Sometimes screaming.”
The room went quiet.
I stared at him.
“You heard children?”
He nodded.
“I thought I was imagining it.”
I looked toward Marcus.
“We're going down.”
Marcus sighed.
“I knew you were going to say that.”
Chief Harrison stepped forward.
“You're not going anywhere.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because this is now a crime scene.”
I smiled.
“Then come with me.”
He hesitated.
“Why?”
“Because if someone is still down there, you might finally find out who murdered my father.”
That changed his expression.
He nodded.
“Fine.”
We left the ballroom together.
The eastern corridor was longer than I remembered.
The mansion had been designed like a maze.
Beautiful on the surface.
Terrifying underneath.
Portraits of dead Blackwoods lined the walls.
Generations of men and women staring down at us.
Men who had built factories.
Banks.
Hotels.
Political careers.
And behind those respectable faces...
secrets.
At the end of the corridor was a wooden staircase.
It led down.
We descended one floor.
Then another.
Then another.
The air became colder.
The walls changed from polished stone to concrete.
At the third basement, Damian stopped.
“I've never gone farther.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“My father threatened to disown me.”
“For going downstairs?”
“Yes.”
“That doesn't sound like your father.”
Damian gave me a bitter smile.
“You didn't know him.”
“No.”
I looked at the staircase.
“But I'm beginning to.”
Marcus tested the next door.
Locked.
He looked at me.
“There's no electronic panel.”
“Then it's mechanical.”
He pulled a small device from his jacket.
Before he could use it, the door clicked.
Unlocked.
Everyone froze.
Nobody had touched it.
Then the door slowly opened by itself.
A cold draft moved through the corridor.
Damian whispered:
“Someone's waiting for us.”
We entered.
The room beyond was enormous.
And it shouldn't have existed.
The walls extended farther than the foundation of the mansion should have allowed.
Metal shelves covered every side.
Boxes.
Files.
Medical equipment.
Old computers.
Photographs.
The smell was unmistakable.
Antiseptic.
Marcus whispered:
“This was a laboratory.”
I walked forward.
A monitor suddenly turned on.
A file appeared.
BLACKWOOD GENETIC PROGRAM
My heart began pounding.
Another file.
PROJECT M-17
Another.
SUBJECT MANAGEMENT
And then:
SUBJECT 001 — ELENA VALE
I stopped.
Damian moved closer.
“That's you.”
I nodded.
My hands were shaking.
I opened the file.
A photograph appeared.
Me.
As a child.
I was maybe five years old.
Standing beside a woman I barely remembered.
My mother.
Except the photograph was taken inside this laboratory.
I looked at the date.
Twelve years before my father's supposed death.
My stomach twisted.
“Why would they have my photograph here?”
Marcus examined the screen.
“Keep scrolling.”
I did.
The next page contained medical measurements.
Blood type.
Genetic markers.
Psychological assessments.
There was even a section titled:
BEHAVIORAL RESPONSE TO AUTHORITY.
I stared at it.
“They were studying me.”
Damian said nothing.
I looked at him.
“Were they studying you too?”
His jaw tightened.
“I don't know.”
I opened another file.
SUBJECT 002 — DAMIAN BLACKWOOD.
Damian stepped backward.
“No.”
His face went pale.
“No.”
I looked at the file.
His childhood photographs appeared.
His medical records.
His behavioral reports.
One line was highlighted in red.
SUBJECT 002 DEMONSTRATES HIGH AGGRESSION AND DOMINANCE RESPONSE.
Damian stared.
“They made me.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“They studied you.”
“They conditioned me.”
His voice cracked.
“They knew exactly what they were doing.”
For a moment, I saw something different in Damian.
Not the arrogant heir.
Not the man who had attacked me.
A frightened child.
A child who had spent his entire life believing his cruelty was his own choice.
I didn't forgive him.
But for the first time...
I understood him.
Then we found another file.
SUBJECT 003 — DANIEL.
Damian stared at the screen.
“Who is Daniel?”
I looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Marcus opened the file.
A photograph appeared.
A baby.
A small scar beneath his left ear.
The same scar I had seen in photographs of my father.
The file contained one sentence.
SUBJECT 003 — REMOVED FROM PROGRAM.
I frowned.
“Removed where?”
No answer.
The screen suddenly changed.
A map appeared.
A red dot blinked beneath the mansion.
Marcus studied it.
“There's another room.”
“Where?”
“Below us.”
I looked down.
“How far?”
He zoomed in.
“Approximately twenty feet.”
Damian stared at the floor.
“That's impossible.”
I walked toward the center of the laboratory.
There was a large metal table.
I pushed it aside.
A steel hatch appeared beneath it.
Marcus crouched.
“No visible lock.”
I touched the hatch.
It opened.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Cold air rose from below.
And somewhere underneath us...
I heard something.
A faint sound.
Metal scraping.
Then breathing.
I looked at Marcus.
“Someone's down there.”
He nodded.
We descended.
The staircase seemed endless.
Twenty feet became thirty.
Thirty became fifty.
The walls became narrower.
No cameras.
No lights.
Only small emergency lamps.
Then we reached another door.
This one had a handwritten label.
M-17
My father's initials were written beneath it.
A.V.
I touched them.
Alexander Vale.
My father had been here.
He had known about this room.
And he had left something for me.
I pushed the door open.
Inside was a small office.
A desk.
A chair.
A bookshelf.
A tape recorder.
And one photograph.
My father.
Sitting at the desk.
He looked exhausted.
Older than I remembered.
He was holding a newborn baby.
I picked up the photograph.
On the back was written:
DANIEL — 2009
My breath stopped.
“Daniel?”
Damian looked over my shoulder.
“That's the child from the file.”
I nodded.
“But Daniel would be—”
“Thirteen,” Marcus said.
A sound came from behind the bookshelf.
Three knocks.
Everyone froze.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
I slowly approached.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Another three knocks.
Marcus drew his weapon.
Damian stepped behind us.
I pushed the bookshelf.
It moved.
A hidden door appeared.
Marcus opened it.
Beyond it was a narrow room.
There was a bed.
A sink.
A small table.
And a teenage boy sitting against the wall.
His knees were pulled to his chest.
His hair was long.
His face was pale.
He looked terrified.
He stared at us.
Nobody spoke.
Then his eyes landed on me.
He whispered:
“Elena.”
My entire body froze.
“How do you know my name?”
The boy looked at the photograph in my hand.
“Because he told me.”
“Who?”
He looked toward the photograph.
“Your father.”
My voice shook.
“What's your name?”
The boy hesitated.
Then whispered:
“Daniel.”
Damian stepped forward.
“Daniel who?”
The boy looked at him.
“Daniel Vale.”
Damian's face went blank.
I couldn't breathe.
Daniel looked at me again.
Then he said:
“Dad told me you would come back.”
I stepped into the room.
“Where is my father?”
Daniel's eyes filled with tears.
“He's dead.”
“I know.”
“No.”
Daniel shook his head.
“You don't.”
I stared at him.
“What do you mean?”
“He didn't die when they told you.”
My heart stopped.
Daniel continued.
“Your father survived.”
I couldn't speak.
He looked toward the floor.
“For three years.”
“Three years?”
Daniel nodded.
“He came here.”
“Why?”
“To get me out.”
“Did he?”
Daniel shook his head.
“He tried.”
I crouched beside him.
“What happened?”
Daniel whispered:
“Victor found him.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then what?”
“He made your father choose.”
“Choose what?”
Daniel looked directly into my eyes.
“You.”
I felt the room disappear.
“What do you mean?”
“Victor told him he'd kill you if he tried to rescue me.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your father chose to save you.”
I couldn't breathe.
“He left me here.”
Tears rolled down Daniel's face.
“But he promised he'd send you.”
I reached for his hand.
He flinched.
Then slowly allowed me to touch him.
“I’m here now.”
Daniel stared at me.
“You're really Elena?”
“Yes.”
He whispered:
“I thought you'd never come.”
I pulled him into my arms.
For twelve years, I had believed I was alone.
My father was dead.
My mother was gone.
My family had abandoned me.
Everything I knew about my childhood had been a lie.
But now...
I had a brother.
A brother who had spent years waiting in a hidden room beneath the Blackwood mansion.
And suddenly I understood why Victor had been terrified when he saw me.
It wasn't because I had returned.
It was because I had returned...
and I had found Daniel.
Marcus suddenly looked toward the doorway.
“Someone's coming.”
We froze.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor.
Slow.
Calm.
Unhurried.
Someone was walking toward us.
Daniel's face turned white.
He whispered:
“No.”
I stood.
“Who is it?”
Daniel shook his head violently.
“You have to hide.”
“Daniel—”
“You don't understand.”
The footsteps grew louder.
Daniel grabbed my wrist.
“He comes every night.”
“Who?”
Daniel looked toward the door.
Then whispered the words that made my blood turn cold.
“The man who told your father to die.”
The door handle began to turn.
And from the other side came a familiar voice.
“Hello, Elena.”
I knew that voice.
Everyone did.
Chief Harrison.
The man who had walked into the ballroom claiming to protect the law.
The man who had been standing beside us the entire night.
The man my father's warning had told me never to trust.
The door opened.
Harrison stood there.
His gun was already raised.
And behind him were six armed men.
He smiled.
“I was hoping you'd find this place.”
I stepped in front of Daniel.
Harrison's eyes narrowed.
“Move.”
“No.”
He sighed.
“Your father made the same mistake.”
“What mistake?”
“Believing he could protect you.”
He raised the gun slightly.
“Now I'm going to make sure he doesn't get a second chance through you.”
Daniel suddenly shouted:
“ELENA, RUN!”
The lights went out.
A gunshot exploded through the darkness.
May you like
And then...
the fourth basement disappeared into chaos.
