Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Within
I had been living in the Sonoma house with a woman named Sarah, a housekeeper hired by Thornecroft to help me during my final weeks of pregnancy. She was kind, she cooked, and she listened to my rambling about Julian. I trusted her.
That was my mistake.
I woke up to the sound of whispering in the hallway. I pressed my ear to the door, my heart hammering.
"...the location is confirmed," Sarah’s voice said, sounding nothing like the woman I knew. It was cold, clipped. "She’s still there. The girl is planning to meet an journalist. Send the team now."
I backed away, covering my mouth to stifle a sob. I was trapped. The house had only one exit, and the road was miles from the nearest town. I grabbed the journal, shoved it into a bag, and rushed to the back door, but it was already locked.
The security system, which was supposed to keep me safe, had been overridden. The smart-locks clicked shut, one by one. The house became a cage.
I retreated to the panic room in the basement, just as I heard the front door shatter. Heavy boots thundered across the floorboards.
"Isabelle!" Sarah yelled, her voice dripping with venom. "Give us the documents, and maybe we’ll let you see the birth of your brat. Resist, and you’re as good as gone."
May you like
I sat in the dark, my breath hitching as I realized the phone line was dead. I was alone, heavily pregnant, and the walls were closing in. I pulled out my phone one last time—not to call for help, but to trigger the final failsafe Julian had described in his journal: a remote data-purge that would reveal the contents of the 'Architect' folder to every major news outlet in the country.
I hit 'Send' just as the basement door began to groan under the force of an axe.
