Chapter 16: The Contractor's Theory

Was someone we had never met.

The phone slipped from my fingers, clattering onto the kitchen table. Ben stared at it, then at me.

"Who?" he asked. "Who is the other son?"

"I don't know," I whispered. "But the housekeeper said Edith was with him. Right now."

My mind raced through the implications. If Edith had another son—a hidden son—then everything I thought I knew about the family tree was wrong. Mark was the decoy. I was the placeholder. But the real heir... the one born of her body...

Or maybe not her body.

Maybe the "other son" was the baby she stole. Maybe she kept Clara's son hidden away, safe from the world, safe from the truth.

"We need to find him," I said, grabbing the receipt. "If he exists, he's the key. He's the one who was supposed to be in that crib."

"Sarah," Ben said, his voice cautious. "If Edith has a secret son, she's kept him hidden for thirty years. You think we're just going to knock on her door and ask to see him?"

"I'm not knocking," I said. "I'm breaking in."

I looked at the dumbwaiter door in the corner of the kitchen. It was painted shut, layers of white latex sealing it into the wall. Ben had mentioned it yesterday. *An escape chute.*

"Ben," I said. "Open it."

He didn't argue. He grabbed the pry bar and jammed it into the seam. The paint cracked. Wood groaned. With a sharp *crack*, the door popped open.

A rush of stale, cold air hit us. The shaft was dark, smelling of earth and old grease.

"It goes down to the basement," Ben said, shining his light into the void. "And probably up to the second floor."

"No," I said, pointing to the ropes. "Look at the pulley system. It's rigged to go down. Only down."

I leaned into the shaft. At the bottom, twenty feet down, I could see the top of the wooden box.

"I'm going down," I said.

"It's not safe," Ben started, but I was already swinging my legs over the sill.

I climbed down the ropes, using the friction to slow my descent. My boots hit the top of the box with a hollow thud.

The basement was a labyrinth of shadows. The air was heavy with moisture. I climbed out of the dumbwaiter and clicked on my flashlight.

The shaft opened into a small, enclosed room. Stone walls. Dirt floor.

And a door.

A heavy, iron door, rusted shut.

"Ben!" I yelled up the shaft. "I found a door. It leads out."

I put my shoulder against the iron and pushed. It didn't budge. I kicked it.

*CLANG.*

The sound echoed, hollow and loud.

Wait.

It wasn't just an echo.

It was an answer.

From the other side of the door, faint but distinct, came a scraping sound. Metal on stone.

Someone was on the other side.

"Hello?" I called out, pressing my ear to the cold iron.

Silence.

Then, a voice. A man's voice, raspy and unused.

"Is it... is it time?"

My heart stopped.

"Time for what?" I asked.

"The exchange," the voice said. "She said she would come back for the exchange."

I stepped back, my hand covering my mouth.

*She said she would come back.*

It wasn't a basement exit. It was a cell.

And someone had been waiting in it for a very long time.

"Who are you?" I whispered.

There was a pause. A long, stretching silence that felt like a held breath.

"I'm Leo," the voice said.

And then, the sound of a lock turning.

Not from my side.

From his.

The door creaked open.

A beam of light cut through the darkness, blinding me.

"Get in," the voice said. "Before she sees you."

It wasn't a request. It was an order.

I shielded my eyes and stepped forward, into the light.

And into the trap.