Panic

The steel door didn't budge. Not an inch. It was as immovable as the mountain the house was built on, and the silence from the other side was deafening. Iris slammed her palm against the cold metal, the sound swallowed by the thick steel.

"He pushed back," she said, her voice shaking. "He's alive."

"Or it's positive pressure," Marcus said, his face gray. "If the room is sealed, opening the door creates a vacuum. We need a pry bar."

"We need the police," Iris said. She pulled her phone out, her thumb hovering over the emergency dial.

"Iris, think." Marcus put a hand over hers. "If we call the cops now, and there's nothing in there but moldy boxes, Julian wins. He gets a restraining order, you lose access to the house, and if Elias *is* in there, he gets moved before anyone can prove it."

He was right. Julian was already steps ahead, anticipating her breakdown. If she played this wrong, she lost everything.

She lowered the phone. "So what do we do?"

"We prove he's in there. We get visual confirmation. Then we call the cavalry."

They left the basement, carefully pushing the wine rack back into place. Iris wiped the dust from the floor, erasing their footprints.

Upstairs, the house felt different. Before, it had been a dusty tomb. Now, it was a predator.

Iris packed her bag. She threw in her laptop, the water bills, the photo album from the attic. She couldn't stay here tonight. Not with Julian watching. Not with the person beneath the floor.

She walked to the front door, her keys in her hand. She was leaving. She was retreating to regroup.

Her phone buzzed. A notification from her bank app.

* insufficient Funds Alert.*

She froze. She opened the app.

Her checking account: $0.00.
Her savings account: $412.18.

She stared at the numbers. Yesterday, she had five thousand dollars in checking. Enough to pay Marcus, buy groceries, and keep the lights on until the sale.

She scrolled through the transaction history.

*Transfer to Vance Family Trust: $5,000.00.*
*Status: Pending Authorization (Override).*

Julian.

He hadn't just threatened her. He had executed the threat. He had used his power of attorney over the family accounts—powers she had signed over years ago when her mother died—to strip her clean.

She tried to transfer the $412 from savings to checking.

*Error: Account Frozen by Trustee.*

She was locked out. She had no money for gas. No money for a hotel. No money to pay Marcus to come back.

She looked at the front door. She could leave. But where would she go? To a homeless shelter? To Maya’s dorm room floor?

And if she left, who would feed the man in the basement?

Iris sank onto the bottom step of the grand staircase. The house was silent, save for the ticking of the grandfather clock.

Her bank balance notification popped up. $412.18. She was trapped.