Chapter 4 – THE MAN IN THE DOORWAY

The red emergency lights flickered, casting long, menacing shadows across Matteo’s face.

He took a slow step toward me.

“Explain this,” Matteo demanded, pointing at the photograph of my mother and Daniel Mercer.

I shook my head frantically, my heart hammering against my ribs. “I swear to you, I have no idea what that is! I’ve never spoken to Daniel Mercer outside of this house!”

“He paid your mother’s hospital bills,” Matteo said, his voice a low, dangerous rumble. “You told me an anonymous charity covered her surgery.”

“They did!” I pleaded, tears spilling down my cheeks. “It was the Bright Future Foundation. I applied online. I never knew who ran it!”

“I ran it, Hannah,” Daniel’s voice floated through the intercom, thick with amusement. “It’s one of my many shell companies. I needed a maid who desperately needed money. Someone I could eventually frame if the trust transfer went sideways. And look at that. It worked perfectly.”

The guests gasped.

Meredith stared at me, her eyes wide. “He forged your name on the abuse allegations,” she whispered. “He made me get your signature on a blank paper.”

Matteo stopped.

He looked at Meredith, then back at me.

The pieces were clicking together in his mind.

I hadn’t betrayed him. I was just another pawn Daniel had placed on the board, a perfect scapegoat because of my sick mother and deaf brother.

Suddenly, Isla stepped in front of me.

She stood between me and her towering, furious father.

She raised her hands, her movements sharp and defiant.

Hannah is good! she signed, her face fierce. She protected me. She didn’t let Meredith take my chair.

Matteo’s expression cracked. The rage melted into overwhelming guilt.

He looked down at his daughter, then up at me.

“I’m sorry,” Matteo whispered.

Before I could answer, Nico shouted from the keypad. “Matteo! The override wires are behind the box!”

Matteo rushed back to the wall. He reached past the empty cavity where the bills had been hidden and gripped a thick bundle of red wires.

“If you rip those, the doors might lock permanently!” Richard Vale warned, trembling.

“Or they open,” Matteo said.

He yanked the wires with all his strength.

Sparks showered the floor.

The heavy steel security shutters groaned, then slowly began to rise. The magnetic locks on the mahogany doors disengaged with a loud clack.

Guests surged toward the exit, screaming and pushing.

“Get everyone out!” Matteo ordered his security team.

He turned to Nico, Hannah, and Isla. “Stay behind me.”

We pushed through the dining room doors into the grand foyer. The main lights were still out, leaving the mansion bathed in moonlight spilling through the massive skylight.

And there, sitting perfectly in the center of the foyer floor, was the wooden music box.

Matteo froze.

“It’s a trap,” Nico warned, stepping cautiously.

Matteo didn’t listen. He walked forward and picked up the box. It was unlocked.

He opened the lid.

There was a small digital USB drive resting on the velvet lining.

“He left it,” Matteo muttered, bewildered. “Why would he leave the video?”

“Because it doesn’t matter anymore,” a voice said from the top of the grand staircase.

We all looked up.

Daniel Mercer stood on the landing. He wasn’t wearing his suit jacket anymore. In his right hand, he held a heavy bronze fireplace poker.

And in his left hand, he held a lighter.

“I needed you trapped in the dining room long enough for my men to finish their job at the lake house,” Daniel smiled. “By now, the original documents are ash.”

Matteo let out a roar and charged up the stairs.

Daniel swung the heavy bronze poker directly at Matteo’s head.

But a blur of motion intercepted the blow.

Nico threw himself in front of his brother, taking the crushing strike to his shoulder with a sickening crack.

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