Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE WITH NO CAMERASThe mansion was silent when he arrived.
Too silent.
Usually, the security system announced his arrival.
Tonight, nothing happened.
He entered through the front door.
The hallway lights came on automatically.
A framed American flag hung above the staircase.
Everything looked normal.
That frightened him more than anything else.
He walked toward the study.
His security chief was waiting.
“You're late.”
The boss stared at him.
“Where is she?”
The chief frowned.
“Who?”
“The girl.”
A pause.
Then the chief smiled.
“You're asking the wrong question.”
The boss closed the study door.
“What should I ask?”
“Why did Ethan choose you?”
The boss's eyes narrowed.
The chief removed his jacket.
Underneath was a white shirt.
No weapon.
No visible threat.
Yet something about his posture had changed.
“Ethan believed you were different.”
“Different from whom?”
“From us.”
The boss stepped closer.
“I don't work for anyone.”
The chief smiled.
“You've been working for them since Baltimore.”
Silence.
The boss remembered the warehouse.
The locked door.
The woman.
Ethan.
The night everything changed.
He had spent eight years believing he had escaped.
But perhaps he had only been promoted.
The chief placed a folder on the desk.
“You were chosen because you could survive guilt.”
The boss opened it.
Inside was his entire history.
Every operation.
Every payment.
Every decision.
Even things he had never told anyone.
Then he found one final page.
A photograph of the little girl.
Underneath it was a sentence.
SUBJECT ZERO.
The boss looked up.
“What does that mean?”
The chief's expression softened.
“It means she isn't the victim.”
The boss's blood ran cold.
“She is the evidence.”
A noise came from upstairs.
A small footstep.
Then another.
The boss turned.
The chief smiled.
“You found her.”
The boss ran upstairs.
At the end of the hallway, a small figure stood beneath the chandelier.
Light blue dress.
Curly hair.
Plush bunny in her arms.
The girl looked at him.
But she wasn't alone.
A man stood behind her.
Older.
Tired.
Sad eyes.
Ethan Vale.
The boss stopped.
Neither man spoke.
The girl looked between them.
May you like
Then whispered:
“Now you both know.”
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