Chapter 4 - The Midnight Breach
The night was chosen for the charity gala—the Sterling Foundation’s biggest and most chaotic event of the year. The mansion was crawling with private security, but the gala also meant the hallways were filled with guests, musicians, and frantic caterers. I donned a spare tuxedo from the service locker, blending into the crowd of staff members, and moved toward the East Wing, armed with a heavy-duty masonry hammer I’d stolen from the landscaping crew.
The muffled sound of the gala echoed through the vents, a cruel and festive contrast to the tomb-like silence of the basement. I reached the steel door. My heart felt like a physical weight, but I swung the hammer with everything I had. The mortar Isabella had used was new and brittle. Brick by brick, I tore the wall down, my hands bleeding as I pried the masonry loose.
When the opening was wide enough, I crawled through, the air in the room thick with the stench of decay and neglect. Leo was curled in the corner, his breathing shallow and erratic.
"Leo," I whispered, reaching for him in the darkness.
He flinched, then looked up, his eyes widening. The light of my flashlight revealed a room stripped of everything. No furniture, no toys, no windows, just a cot and a waste bucket. My blood turned to ice. She wasn't just hiding him; she was starving him, keeping him as a bargaining chip for a future claim.
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As I lifted him, trying to shield him from the cold, the steel door slammed shut behind us with a resonant, metallic thud. I froze. The lights in the corridor flickered on. Isabella stood there, perfectly poised, her evening gown glowing like ivory in the dim hall, her hand resting on the security bypass keypad.
"Emma," she said, her voice devoid of any surprise. "You’ve always been such a dedicated housekeeper. It’s a pity you never learned to mind your own business."
