CHAPTER 5 – THE SECRET BENEATH THE FLOORBOARDS
CHAPTER 5 – THE SECRET BENEATH THE FLOORBOARDS
Liam stood motionless at the apartment window, watching the black SUV disappear into the snowy streets.
Its headlights remained off until it turned the corner.
Whoever had been inside did not want to be seen.
Emily stepped beside him.
"Do you think they were watching us?"
"I know they were."
His answer came without hesitation.
"They weren't burglars."
"They were waiting."
"For what?"
"For us to open that flower."
A chill spread through the tiny apartment.
Liam immediately called the head of his private security team.
"Marcus."
"Yes, sir."
"I need a full protective detail."
"For who?"
Liam looked at Emily.
"For Miss Emily Carter."
Marcus paused.
"Has there been a threat?"
"There is now."
Within twenty minutes, two black SUVs stopped outside the building.
Four security officers entered the apartment.
Emily stared in disbelief.
"This is unnecessary."
"No."
Liam's voice was calm.
"Someone watched your home before we arrived."
"They knew exactly where to look."
He turned toward Marcus.
"Search the building."
"Every entrance."
"Every roof."
"Every camera within three blocks."
Marcus nodded.
"Immediately."
Meanwhile...
Across the city...
David Collins sat inside the office of his attorney.
His suspension papers lay untouched on the desk.
His phone vibrated.
Unknown Number.
He answered cautiously.
"...Hello?"
A deep voice spoke.
"You failed."
David frowned.
"Who is this?"
"You allowed Liam Vance to find the girl."
David's blood turned cold.
"How do you know about Emily?"
The caller ignored the question.
"Listen carefully."
"If she reaches the old apartment..."
"Everything ends."
The line went dead.
David stared at the phone.
Someone else knew about Martha.
Someone far more dangerous than he was.
Back inside Emily's apartment...
Liam held the tiny brass key beneath the kitchen light.
"There has to be a lock."
Emily searched her mother's old journals.
Nothing.
Drawers.
Nothing.
Cabinets.
Nothing.
Hours passed.
Until...
Emily stopped beside the faded wooden rocking chair where Martha used to read every evening.
"My mother never let anyone move this chair."
Liam looked down.
The floor beneath it was scratched differently from the surrounding wood.
Marcus knelt.
"Sir..."
He tapped the floor.
"Hollow."
Within minutes the old boards were carefully lifted.
Hidden beneath them...
A small iron box.
Exactly the size of the brass key.
Liam inserted it.
The lock clicked.
Inside rested three objects.
A bundle of yellowed letters.
A cassette tape labeled:
December 17, 2006
And an old photograph.
Emily picked up the picture first.
Her breath caught.
It showed Martha.
A younger Liam.
And...
Another man.
A sharply dressed businessman smiling beside them.
Liam's face hardened.
"I know him."
Emily looked up.
"Who is he?"
Liam whispered the name.
"My father."
The room became silent.
Emily looked from the photograph to Liam.
"Your father knew my mother?"
"He never told me."
Liam turned the picture over.
On the back, Martha had written only six words.
The truth has many owners.
Marcus carefully opened the letters.
Most were addressed to Liam.
None had ever been mailed.
One envelope contained a newspaper clipping.
Headline:
Billionaire Heir Missing During Winter Storm
The date...
Twenty years earlier.
Folded inside was another handwritten note.
If anything ever happens to me, don't believe the official story.
Emily felt her heartbeat quicken.
"What official story?"
Before anyone could answer—
Marcus's earpiece crackled.
"Sir."
"We found signs of forced access."
"Someone entered this apartment within the last forty-eight hours."
Emily turned pale.
"But... I've been at work."
Marcus nodded.
"They searched every room."
"But strangely..."
"They didn't steal anything."
Liam looked at the iron box.
"They weren't looking for valuables."
"They were looking for this."
That night...
The cassette tape played inside Liam's penthouse.
Static filled the room.
Then...
Martha's familiar voice.
Older.
More tired.
"If you're hearing this..."
"I wasn't brave enough to tell you face to face."
Emily covered her mouth.
It was the first time she had heard her mother's voice in seven years.
Tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
Martha continued.
"Liam..."
"You were never abandoned that night."
"I tried to bring you home."
"But someone paid me not to."
Liam froze.
His pulse pounded.
"They said your family would take care of everything."
"They promised I would never see you again."
"I believed them."
"I've regretted that decision every day since."
The tape hissed.
Then came the sentence that changed everything.
"The man who gave me the money..."
"...worked for your father."
May you like
Silence.
No one in the room moved.
