Chapter 3 - The Room Beneath the Mansion
The hidden door opened by itself.
Nobody moved.
Nobody breathed.
For several seconds, all eight guards stood frozen in the hallway, staring at the security monitor.
The screen showed nothing but darkness behind the doorway.
Then a sound came through the speakers.
A single footstep.
Slow.
Heavy.
Coming from inside the hidden room.
I looked at Adrien.
His face had changed.
Not the cold expression everyone knew.
Not the calm control of the man who could silence an entire room.
Something else.
Something much more human.
Fear.
"Who is inside?" I whispered.
Adrien didn't answer.
That was the moment I knew the answer mattered.
Because Adrien Moretti always had an answer.
He knew everyone's name.
Everyone's history.
Every weakness.
Every secret.
But now he was silent.
One of the guards looked at him.
"Sir?"
Adrien finally moved.
"Nobody enters that room."
The guard hesitated.
"But if someone is inside—"
"I said nobody."
The command was sharp.
Everyone stopped.
I watched him carefully.
"Why?"
His eyes moved to me.
"Because that room has been locked for six years."
Six years.
The words felt strange.
A room hidden inside a mansion.
Locked for six years.
And somehow my name had appeared there.
I looked back at the monitor.
The hallway camera showed the empty corridor.
The hidden door remained open.
Waiting.
"How did that woman get inside?" I asked.
Adrien didn't answer immediately.
Then he said something that made my stomach tighten.
"She didn't."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
"That room can only be opened from inside."
The silence that followed was worse than anything else.
Because everyone understood what he meant.
Someone had been inside that room before the door opened.
Someone had been waiting.
One of the guards quickly checked the security system.
"Sir, the cameras around the west wing are corrupted."
"Corrupted?"
"Someone replaced the footage."
Adrien looked at the screen.
"How long?"
The guard typed quickly.
"Exactly twenty minutes before the pipe broke."
My chest tightened.
Twenty minutes.
That was when I entered the hallway.
That was when everything started.
I looked at Adrien.
"Someone planned this."
He didn't deny it.
Instead, he looked at me.
And that scared me more.
Because his eyes told me he already knew.
"You need to tell me the truth."
My voice sounded stronger than I felt.
Everyone looked at me.
Maybe they expected me to lower my head.
Maybe they expected me to remember who I was standing in front of.
But I was tired.
Tired of people knowing things about me that I didn't know myself.
"My mother's name was never mentioned in this mansion before tonight."
Adrien stayed silent.
"But suddenly someone appears with a message about her."
I stepped closer.
"And you know exactly what room they're talking about."
His jaw tightened.
"Maya..."
"No."
I shook my head.
"I want answers."
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Adrien did something unexpected.
He dismissed everyone.
"Leave."
The guards looked surprised.
"Sir?"
"I said leave."
One by one, they walked away.
The conference room became empty.
Just me and him.
The man everyone feared.
And the woman who had accidentally walked into his biggest secret.
Rain hit the windows harder.
Adrien picked up the wooden piece from the table.
The words carved into it stared back at us.
She knows everything.
"My mother worked here."
I froze.
"What?"
"Six years ago."
I stared at him.
"No."
I had spent years believing my mother had disappeared because she wanted to.
That was what I had been told.
That she left.
That she started a new life somewhere else.
That she didn't want to be found.
But now Adrien Moretti was telling me something different.
"She worked for me."
My hands became cold.
"What was her name?"
He looked at me.
"You know her name."
I stopped breathing.
Because suddenly I understood.
He wasn't talking about some stranger.
He was talking about the woman who raised me.
The woman whose photographs I kept hidden in a drawer.
The woman whose voice I could barely remember.
"My mother..."
Adrien nodded slowly.
"Elena Collins."
I stepped back.
The room felt like it was spinning.
"You knew her."
"Yes."
"Then why did you let me believe she abandoned me?"
His expression changed.
"I didn't."
"Someone did."
Those three words hit harder than anything else.
Someone did.
Someone had lied.
Someone had changed the story of my entire life.
I looked away.
"Why was she here?"
Adrien walked toward the window.
"Your mother discovered something."
"What?"
He didn't answer.
I laughed once.
A small, broken sound.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
I looked at him.
"Your mother discovered something."
"Someone wants you to know something."
"Someone wants you to run."
"But nobody tells me what the truth actually is."
Adrien remained silent.
Then he reached into his desk drawer.
He pulled out a small black box.
My eyes locked onto it.
"What's that?"
He placed it on the table.
"Something your mother left behind."
I didn't move.
"Why do you have it?"
"Because she trusted me."
I almost laughed.
"My mother trusted a mafia boss?"
Adrien didn't react.
"Your mother trusted the person she believed could protect you."
That sentence stopped me.
Because there was something in his voice.
Regret.
Not guilt.
Regret.
I looked at the box.
"Open it."
Adrien stared at me.
"No."
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because once you see what's inside, there is no pretending anymore."
My heart started racing.
I stepped closer.
"Open it."
For several seconds, he didn't move.
Then slowly...
he unlocked the box.
Inside was a small necklace.
My necklace.
The one I had lost when I was twelve.
The one my mother had given me before she disappeared.
I touched my throat.
"I thought this was gone."
Adrien looked at it.
"Your mother gave it to me the night she disappeared."
I stared at him.
"Why?"
His answer was quiet.
"Because she knew someone was coming for her."
The room went silent.
"Who?"
Adrien looked at the necklace.
"There was a file hidden inside it."
My eyes widened.
"A file?"
He nodded.
"Evidence."
"Evidence of what?"
Before he could answer, the lights flickered again.
Both of us looked toward the hallway.
Then my phone vibrated.
Another message.
Unknown number.
I opened it.
Only one sentence.
Don't trust the man standing beside you.
My eyes slowly moved upward.
Toward Adrien.
He had seen the message too.
For the first time, neither of us knew what to say.
Then another sound came from the mansion.
A door closing.
Not the hidden room.
Another door.
Closer.
Adrien immediately stood.
"Stay here."
I grabbed his arm.
"No."
He looked at my hand holding him.
Then at me.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
He didn't.
Instead, he walked toward the hallway.
I followed.
Because after everything I had learned tonight, I knew one thing.
The truth wasn't hidden from me because it was dangerous.
It was hidden because someone was terrified I would find it.
We reached the end of the corridor.
The guards were gone.
The hidden door remained open.
But something had changed.
There was a light coming from inside.
Someone had turned it on.
Adrien stopped.
His eyes narrowed.
"I locked this room myself."
I looked at the doorway.
"Then who opened it?"
Neither of us answered.
Slowly, Adrien reached for the handle.
The door moved slightly before his hand touched it.
It was already opening from the inside.
May you like
And a voice whispered from the darkness:
"Adrien... you finally brought her back."
