Chapter 15 - Beneath Her Father’s Grave
The tunnel extended beneath the mansion grounds.
Rachel followed Detective Bell and a tactical team through the darkness.
The stone passage looked decades old.
Her father must have discovered it while renovating the estate.
At the end stood a reinforced steel door.
Beyond it was a hidden room beneath Arthur’s family mausoleum.
Daniel was inside.
So was Vanessa.
He had captured her outside the mansion and dragged her through the tunnel.
Daniel held a gun against her head.
His face was pale from chemical exposure, but his voice remained calm.
“Send the officers away.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“Let Vanessa go.”
“She was dead before you met her. I’m simply correcting the paperwork.”
Vanessa’s expression hardened.
“You never loved either of us.”
Daniel laughed.
“Love is what people call dependency when they’re ashamed of it.”
The hidden room contained boxes of Arthur’s records.
Daniel had known about them all along.
He began pouring fuel across the floor.
“If I burn this place, your father’s evidence disappears.”
Rachel glanced at Bell.
He subtly moved toward the left wall.
Daniel noticed.
He fired.
The bullet struck stone near Bell’s head.
Vanessa drove her heel into Daniel’s foot.
The gun shifted.
Rachel lunged.
All three fell against Arthur’s sealed tomb.
A loose stone panel opened.
Inside was a small video camera connected to an old battery pack.
A red light began blinking.
Arthur had installed a recording system.
Daniel stared at it.
Rachel pressed the playback button.
Her father appeared on the screen, weak but alert.
“If this recording is being watched, Daniel Mercer has likely tried to destroy my daughter.”
Daniel’s face went white.
Arthur described the poisoning, Daniel’s threats, and the evidence he had collected.
Then he looked directly into the camera.
“Rachel, I’m sorry I failed to make you understand. But I never doubted your strength.”
Daniel grabbed the camera.
Vanessa struck his wrist.
The gun fired again.
She fell.
Rachel screamed.
Daniel ran toward the tunnel while Bell chased him.
Rachel pressed both hands against Vanessa’s bleeding side.
Vanessa struggled to breathe.
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“Don’t let him turn me into another dead woman,” she whispered.
👉 Arthur’s final recording could convict Daniel, but Vanessa’s life now depended on surviving the wound he had intended for Rachel.
