Chapter 4 - Seven Locked Doors
Kellen fired one round into the speaker.
The room erupted with sound.
Mara jumped.
Rowan didn't.
Evelyn shouted, "What are you doing?"
"Improving the conversation."
Kellen lowered the gun.
The damaged speaker hissed.
Then another speaker in the kitchen came alive.
Killian laughed.
"Temper."
Kellen turned toward it.
"You died three years ago."
"So did Evelyn."
Mara flinched.
"Apparently death has become unreliable around this family."
"Where are the seven women?"
"Waiting."
"For what?"
"For you to become what you were born to be."
Kellen's jaw tightened.
"Give me the location."
"Bring Mara."
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Mara looked at him.
Killian went silent.
Then:
"Interesting."
Kellen's expression darkened.
"What?"
"Seven others begged to leave you. She arrived for one night and you're already refusing to trade her."
Mara stared at Kellen.
He did not look at her.
"She's not property."
"Neither were the others."
"Yet you're imprisoning them."
"A necessary lesson."
"For whom?"
"You."
Kellen walked toward the control room.
Rowan followed.
"Kellen."
"Not now."
"You don't know Killian's facilities."
"I know his company."
"No. You inherited his public holdings. Not everything else."
Kellen stopped.
"Then start talking."
Rowan pointed toward the map.
"The inland cluster is likely under the old Croft research site."
Evelyn shook her head.
"That was destroyed."
"Officially."
Kellen checked the map coordinates.
"Forty-two miles northeast."
"Mountain roads," Rowan said. "In this storm, an hour."
The timer showed five hours and forty-three minutes.
Mara approached.
"We have time."
Kellen faced her.
"You're staying here."
"No."
"That wasn't a request."
"Then it's a bad order."
His expression sharpened.
"Mara."
"Those women are involved because of whatever connects them to me."
"They're involved because of him."
"And he's asking for me."
"Exactly why you're staying."
Mara stepped closer.
"Seven women are locked somewhere because someone believes I'm valuable enough to exchange for them."
"Which is why you're not going anywhere near him."
"Do you actually hear yourself?"
"Constantly."
"This isn't funny."
"I wasn't joking."
Mara stared.
Kellen stared back.
Rowan glanced at Evelyn.
"Is this what the bond looks like?"
Kellen turned.
"Say bond again and I'll test whether you heal faster than ordinary people."
Rowan raised both hands.
Evelyn almost smiled despite everything.
Mara exhaled.
"Kellen, listen. I won't let you hand me over. But I'm coming."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I said so."
Her brows rose.
"That line might work on terrified employees."
"It works on most people."
"Then enjoy the novelty."
She walked toward the stairs.
"Where are you going?"
"To find shoes."
Kellen stared after her.
Rowan muttered, "I like her."
"Nobody asked."
Twenty minutes later, they gathered in the estate garage.
Kellen wore a black field jacket over his shirt and carried equipment Mara suspected belonged in a military armory.
Rowan examined a rifle.
Evelyn carried medical supplies.
Mara wore boots and one of Kellen's waterproof coats, sleeves rolled twice.
Kellen saw her.
"Still no."
She opened the SUV passenger door.
"Drive."
He looked ready to physically remove her.
Then his phone vibrated.
A video.
He opened it.
One of the seven women sat before a camera.
Blonde.
Mid-thirties.
Kellen knew her as Elise Harrow.
She looked exhausted.
"Kellen," Elise said.
His expression changed.
"If you're seeing this, he wants you to believe we're hostages."
Mara leaned closer.
Elise continued.
"We came here willingly."
Kellen frowned.
"What?"
"All seven of us."
Elise looked off camera.
"We weren't running from you."
The recording ended.
Kellen stared.
Mara softly said, "I told you."
His eyes lifted to hers.
"Don't."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were about to."
"I was thinking it."
"Think quieter."
Despite herself, Mara nearly smiled.
Then another video arrived.
A different woman.
Talia.
"Kellen, I'm sorry."
Third video.
Rebecca.
"We were told leaving was the only way to protect you."
Fourth.
Ana.
"Your father said you would die if any of us stayed."
Kellen looked at Rowan.
"Did you know?"
"No."
Fifth.
June.
"We were monitored."
Sixth.
Lena.
"He threatened our families."
Seventh.
Sophie.
"Mara isn't the eighth woman."
Everyone froze.
The video continued.
"She's the reason there were seven."
Static.
End.
Mara stared.
"What does that mean?"
Evelyn's face gave her away.
Kellen turned slowly.
"You know."
Evelyn said nothing.
"Mara is the reason?"
"Not directly."
"Explain directly."
Evelyn leaned against the SUV.
"After Mara was born, Killian discovered her genetic markers."
Mara's voice tightened.
"You said you hid me."
"I did."
"Clearly not well."
"He couldn't find you. So he searched for substitutes."
The seven women.
Partial matches.
Kellen understood.
"They weren't potential partners."
"No."
"They were decoys."
Evelyn nodded.
"Women whose blood signatures resembled Mara's enough to distract him."
Mara stared at her mother.
"You used seven women as shields for me?"
Evelyn's face broke.
"I tried to keep everyone alive."
"By lying to all of us?"
"I was desperate."
Mara stepped away.
Kellen watched her.
He knew betrayal.
It had a physical weight.
A strange vacancy behind the eyes.
He wanted to go to her.
He didn't.
Not while her mother stood there.
Mara whispered, "Did they know?"
"Eventually."
"And they agreed?"
"Some did."
"Some?"
Evelyn looked down.
Mara laughed bitterly.
"You don't even know anymore, do you?"
Kellen's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
"Yes?"
A woman whispered.
"Kellen."
He recognized Elise.
"Where are you?"
"You can't come here."
"I already am."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"That's what he wants."
"Who?"
"Killian."
"Tell me where."
"I can't."
"Elise."
She breathed rapidly.
"He isn't keeping us here."
Kellen looked at the map.
"Then why are the doors locked?"
"They're not keeping us in."
A metallic bang sounded on her end.
Elise gasped.
Kellen stiffened.
"What was that?"
Another bang.
Closer.
Elise whispered, "They're keeping something out."
The line went dead.
Everyone stared at Kellen.
He climbed into the SUV.
Mara opened the passenger door.
This time he didn't argue.
They drove.
The coastal road disappeared beneath heavy rain.
For forty minutes, nobody spoke.
Then Kellen said quietly, "Why did you really come to the peninsula?"
Mara looked out the window.
"My aunt died two weeks ago."
"I'm sorry."
"She left me a storage key."
"And?"
"Inside was a box of my mother's things."
Evelyn went still in the back seat.
Mara continued.
"Letters. Newspaper clippings. A map."
"To my estate?" Kellen asked.
"Near it."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know whether you were connected."
"You walked into the house of a man you suspected might be connected to your mother's disappearance?"
"My car actually did break down."
"Convenient."
"I thought so too."
Evelyn whispered, "What letters?"
Mara turned.
"Yours."
Evelyn paled.
"I never wrote to your aunt."
"Then somebody forged them."
Kellen's grip tightened on the wheel.
"Killian."
Mara nodded.
"He wanted me here."
The realization settled over them.
The storm.
The car.
The envelope.
None of it was accidental.
Killian had assembled all the pieces.
They reached the coordinates shortly after two in the morning.
An abandoned logging road ended at a concrete structure hidden between enormous cedar trees.
No lights.
No visible guards.
Kellen parked.
"Stay behind me."
Mara surprised him by agreeing.
They entered through a side door Rowan remembered from decades earlier.
The underground corridor smelled of disinfectant and old metal.
Seven steel doors lined one wall.
All stood open.
Empty.
Kellen stopped.
"No."
Mara moved toward the first room.
A blanket lay on the floor.
Still warm.
"Where did they go?"
Then they heard it.
Footsteps.
Many.
Running toward them from deeper inside the facility.
Kellen raised his weapon.
Seven women emerged around the corner.
Elise at the front.
"Kellen!"
He lowered the gun.
Elise ran toward him.
"Turn around!"
"What?"
"Go!"
A roar echoed through the corridor.
Not human.
Mara's blood went cold.
Kellen moved in front of her.
Rowan whispered, "Impossible."
Something slammed into the far wall.
Concrete cracked.
Elise screamed, "Killian didn't bring us here to trap us."
Another roar.
Closer.
"He brought us here to feed it."
A massive shadow appeared at the end of the corridor.
May you like
And Rowan whispered one horrified sentence.
"That's Kellen's brother."
