Maya's POV
Ezra threw me to the ground.
The bullet hit the wall where my head had been a second before. Plaster exploded everywhere, raining down on us like snow.
"Stay down!" Elijah fired back, his gun incredibly loud in the small room.
The man with the snake tattoo dove behind the doorframe. More footsteps pounded through the house. Voices screaming. They weren't alone. "How many?" Ezra yelled, pulling me behind a heavy desk.
"At least six outside. Probably more inside now." Elijah moved to the other side of the opening, staying low. "We need to get to the panic room. Now." "It's on the other side of the house!"
"Then we make a run for it." Elijah glanced back at us. "On three. Stay behind me. Don't stop going no matter what happens."
My whole body shook. This couldn't be real. People with guns were in the house. Actually shooting at us. This was supposed to be my life as a boring shop clerk, Maya Chen. Not an action movie, Maya Chen running from killers.
"I can't," I whispered. "I can't do this."
Ezra grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. "Yes, you can. I know you're scared. But you're better than you think. Trust me."
"I don't even know you!"
"You don't have to know me. You just have to trust me for the next five minutes." His gray eyes were fixed, burning with a fierce intensity. "Can you do that?"
I nodded because what else could I do? "One," Elijah counted. "Two"
The lights went out.
Complete darkness filled the room. Someone had cut the power to the whole house.
"Change of plans," Elijah said. I could hear him moving, but couldn't see anything. "Everyone, stay quiet. Don't move."
My heart hammered so loud I was sure everyone could hear it. I felt Ezra's hand find mine in the dark, squeezing gently.
Footsteps approached the office. Slow and careful. "Come out, come out," the snake tattoo man called. His voice was sing-song, mocking. "We're not here to hurt you, Maya. We just want to talk." "Liar," I whispered. "We know you're in there. We know all three of you are hiding like scared rabbits." He laughed. "Your father told us everything. Where you? When you come. He was very helpful once we described what would happen to your sister if he didn't cooperate."
Rage burned through my fear. Dad had betrayed me. Actually betrayed me to people who wanted to kill me. "Maya," the man added, "your father wants you to know he's sorry. But the bill had to be paid somehow. And Mr. Blackwell's money wasn't enough. Our companies offered more. Much more. All your father had to do was make sure you came to Frost Manor today. Mission accomplished."
I felt Ezra tense beside me. "It was a plan," I breathed. "The whole thing. Dad's debt, Vale's offer, everything."
"Very smart girl," the man said. "Yes, it was all a setup. We needed you here. We needed the Blackwell boys distracted. And now we have exactly what we want."
"What do you want?" I shouted before I could stop myself.
Ezra's hand squeezed mine, warning me to be quiet. But it was too late.
"There she is!" The man's footsteps came closer. "What we want, Maya, is simple. You have information in that pretty head of yours. Information about the night Sarah Blackwell really died. Information that could destroy some very powerful people."
"I don't know anything!"
"Maybe not consciously. But it's in there. Locked away. And we have ways of getting it out." His voice turned cold. "Now, you can come with us quietly, and this will be quick and easy. Or you can keep hiding, and we'll make it hurt. Your choice."
A hand grabbed my arm. I almost screamed before realizing it was Elijah.
"When I say run," he whispered directly in my ear, so quiet I barely heard it, "you run straight ahead. Don't stop. Don't look back. There's a door at the end of this path. Go through it and down the stairs. The escape room is at the bottom. Code is 1225. Christmas Day. Got it?" "What about you and Ezra?"
"We'll be right behind you. Now get ready."
Something crashed in another part of the house. Glass breaking. More voices. "Time's up," the snake tattoo man said. "We're coming in. Last chance to surrender." "Run!" Elijah yelled.
Suddenly, there was a bright, blinding light from lamps and phone screens. Elijah shot his gun, the sound deafening. Someone screamed.
Ezra pulled me forward. We ran through the darkness, following the path Elijah had explained. Behind us, more bangs. Shouting. Things breaking.
I didn't look back.
My feet pounded against hardwood, then carpet, then hardwood again. Ezra's hand never left mine, pulling me forward when I stumbled. "There!" He pointed to a door ahead. "Go!"
I yanked it open. Stairs led down into more darkness. I started down, taking them two at a time, Ezra right behind me.
At the bottom was a large metal door with a keypad. My fingers shook as I punched in the numbers. 1-2-2-5.
Nothing happened. "Come on," I whispered desperately. I tried again. 1-2-2-5.
Still nothing. "It's not working!"
"Try it backwards," Ezra said. "5-2-2-1."
I did. The door clicked and swung open. We fell inside, and Ezra slammed it shut behind us, spinning a heavy wheel to lock it.
Lights flickered on instantly. We were in a small room with concrete walls, no windows, and supplies packed along one side. Food, water, emergency kits, blankets. A danger room, just like Elijah said.
But Elijah wasn't with us. "Where's your brother?" I gasped, trying to catch my breath.
Ezra moved to a screen on the wall showing security camera feeds. Most were dark, but a few emergency lights still worked. He flipped through the cams until he found one showing the hallway outside the office.
Elijah was surrounded by four guys. His gun was on the floor. His hands were up.
"No," Ezra whispered. "No, no, no."
We watched helplessly as they grabbed Elijah, pushing his arms behind his back. The snake tattoo man appeared, smiling.
He looked straight at the camera. Directly at us.
Then he pulled out a phone and typed something.
My phone buzzed in my pocket. A text from an unknown number.
We have your brother. Come out in the next five minutes, or we'll kill him. Then we come for your sister. Your pick. - V V. Vale. Marcus Vale was here. Part of this. Part of everything. "We have to help him," I said. "No." Ezra's voice was hard. "That's what they want. They want us to open this door."
"But they'll kill him!"
"They'll kill him anyway!" Ezra spun to face me, and I saw tears in his eyes. "They'll kill all of us. That's the plan. That's always been the plan."
"So we just hide here and let him die?"
"We survive!" Ezra's voice cracked. "Elijah made sure we got to safety. If we go out there now, his sacrifice means nothing."
On the screen, the snake tattoo man put a gun to Elijah's head.
My phone buzzed again. Four minutes. "There has to be another way," I said desperately. "A back route. A tube. Something."
"There's nothing. This room is meant to be a fortress. Nothing gets in." Ezra sank to the floor, his head in his hands. "And nothing gets out."
I looked at the screen again. Elijah, on his knees, a gun to his head, about to die because of me. Because I lived. Because I knew something I didn't even remember knowing.
Three minutes. "Tell me about that night," I said suddenly. "The fire. When I was seven. Tell me everything you know."
Ezra looked up at me. "Why?"
"Because if I really am a witness to Mom's murder, if I really saw something that can help, I need to remember. That's what they want, right? Information? Maybe if we give it to them, they'll let Elijah go." "They won't. And even if they would, you can't remember something that happened nineteen years ago just because you want to."
"Maybe I can." I closed my eyes, trying to focus. Trying to reach into the dark corners of my mind. "Tell me what you know. Help me remember."
Ezra paused, then spoke quietly. "December 10th, nineteen years ago. You were seven years old. Our mother, Sarah, was then living under the name Sarah Chen. Married to Robert. The house caught fire in the middle of the night. When the firemen arrived, they found a body. Burned beyond recognition. They identified it as Sarah based on dental records."
"But it wasn't her."
"No. We think she paid someone to take her place. A poor woman who looked like her. She faked her death to escape whoever was trying to kill her."
"But someone was there that night," I breathed. Memories stirred, fuzzy and unsure. "Someone who started the fire on purpose."
Two minutes. "Maya, we don't have time for."
"I remember a man," I said. The memory was coming back, piece by piece. "A man with white hair. He was in my room. I woke up, and he was standing over my bed."
Ezra went very still. "What else?" "He said," My voice shook. "He said, 'Where is she? Where did your mother go?' I was so scared. I pretended to be asleep. Then I smelled smoke."
"The fire." "He started it. He started the fire with me still inside." The full memory hit me like a wave, and I gasped. "Mom came back. She came back for me. She pulled me out through the window. But there was someone else in the house. The woman who died in Mom's place. Mom was crying. She said, 'I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
One minute. "Did you see anything else?" Ezra asked. "Anything that could identify who the man was?"
I squeezed my eyes shut, reaching for the memory. "He had a ring. Gold with a red stone. And when he grabbed me, I saw" I opened my eyes, my breath catching. "I saw a mark. On his wrist. A snake."
Ezra's face went white. "The same man who's upstairs right now."
"He's been hunting us all for nineteen years," I realized. "Mom, me, you, Elijah. Because we all know the truth about that night."
Time's up. Say goodbye to your brother.
On the screen, the snake tattoo man cocked his gun. "Wait!" I yelled at the screen even though I knew he couldn't hear me. "I remember! I remember everything! Tell him I remember!"
But there was no sound in the panic room. No way to connect.
Elijah looked up at the camera one last time. He mouthed three words: I love you.
Then the snake tattoo man pulled the gun.
The screen went dark.