Chapter 6 - Thirty Seconds of Darkness
Darkness changes people.
In daylight, powerful men pretend they are civilized.
In darkness, instinct takes over.
Guests screamed and pushed toward walls that offered no escape.
Glass shattered beneath expensive shoes.
Someone knocked over a table.
Marcus grabbed my arm.
“Down.”
I crouched behind the stage.
A flashlight snapped on.
Then another.
Emergency lights glowed red along the floor.
“Gavin is missing.”
Lena’s voice came through Marcus’s radio.
“Harrison?”
“Still visible.”
“Eleanor?”
A pause.
“Missing too.”
That surprised me more.
Gavin’s mother had disappeared at exactly the same moment as her son.
This was not panic.
It was a plan.
“Service routes?”
I asked.
Marcus nodded.
“The lockdown seals public exits.”
“But not emergency maintenance passages.”
“Correct.”
“Then they knew the system.”
Marcus looked toward Harrison.
“So did someone else.”
The main lights flickered back on.
Harrison stood near the center of the ballroom surrounded by security officers.
For the first time, he appeared genuinely furious.
“Find my wife.”
Interesting.
Not his son.
His wife.
I noticed the unconscious security officer near the western hallway.
Lena knelt beside him.
“He was struck from behind.”
“By Gavin?”
“Maybe.”
I looked at the badge scanner beside the service door.
A green light blinked.
Someone had opened it during the blackout.
“Who has access?”
Marcus checked the security tablet.
“Senior estate staff.”
“And?”
He hesitated.
“Your father.”
My stomach tightened again.
The estate had once belonged to my family.
That was another truth nobody in the ballroom knew.
My grandfather designed it in the 1980s as a secure diplomatic residence.
Decades later, a Mercer holding company sold it.
Harrison Crowe eventually purchased the property through one of his corporations.
But my father’s company had continued maintaining the security architecture.
That was why I could lock it down.
That was also why someone with access to Mercer credentials could bypass internal doors.
My phone vibrated.
A message appeared from Dad.
DO NOT FOLLOW GAVIN.
I stared at it.
Then another message arrived.
ELEANOR HAS THE ORIGINAL.
The original what?
I called him.
No answer.
Marcus saw the message.
“We should keep you here.”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
“My mother’s file is upstairs.”
“And someone just attacked one of my officers.”
“That is exactly why I’m going.”
Anna grabbed my wrist.
“I’m coming with you.”
I looked at her torn dress and bloody knee.
“You’ve done enough.”
“No.”
Her voice hardened.
“I spent three years hiding.”
She looked toward the service corridor.
“I’m done hiding.”
Marcus cursed quietly.
Then he motioned toward Lena.
“Four-person team.”
We entered the corridor.
Behind us, Harrison shouted.
“Evelyn.”
I turned.
He looked suddenly older.
“If Eleanor gets to that vault before you do, your mother’s death will be the least painful thing you discover tonight.”
I held his gaze.
“What does that mean?”
Harrison swallowed.
May you like
Then he said the one sentence I never expected.
“Your mother was alive after the crash.”
