CHAPTER 5 — THE FALSE ORDER
Daniel pushed a heavy bookcase in front of the door.
Nora called the police.
Emily stood beside the fireplace, fighting to control her breathing.
Outside, Dr. Warren continued speaking in a calm voice.
“Emily, your husband says you are experiencing a severe emotional episode.”
“He forced me to wash another woman’s feet,” Emily called back. “I think my emotions are appropriate.”
There was a pause.
Then the doctor’s tone changed.
“You’re putting your baby at risk.”
Emily looked at Nora.
“That’s how they planned to control me.”
Nora checked the documents from the hidden compartment.
The commitment order carried a judge’s signature.
Daniel studied it.
“This judge retired eight months ago.”
The order was forged.
Heavy footsteps moved beyond the door.
Dr. Warren was not alone.
Daniel drew the curtains and looked through the window. A private ambulance waited near the east entrance.
Two attendants stood beside it.
“This was arranged in advance,” he said.
Nora called estate security.
No one answered.
The internal security network had been disabled again.
Preston had not needed to escape.
He had people already inside the property.
Emily’s stomach tightened painfully.
This time, the pain did not fade.
Nora noticed her expression.
“Was that a contraction?”
“I don’t know.”
Another pain followed.
Emily bent forward.
Her due date was still five weeks away.
The stress, the kneeling, and the pressure on her body had pushed her too far.
The door shook as someone rammed it from the other side.
Daniel picked up the leather ledger.
“We need another exit.”
Emily looked toward the fireplace.
As a child, she had used a narrow servant staircase behind the blue room.
She pulled a brass lever inside the hidden panel.
The back wall opened.
They entered the dark passage seconds before the main door broke apart.
From inside the narrow stairwell, Emily heard Dr. Warren shouting.
“She’s unstable. Do not let her leave the property.”
They descended toward the kitchen level.
Halfway down, Emily’s water broke.
She gripped the railing.
“No,” she whispered.
Nora wrapped an arm around her.
“We are getting you to a hospital.”
At the bottom of the stairs, Daniel opened the hidden door.
Caleb Miller was waiting on the other side.
He held a ring of vehicle keys.
“Vanessa told me where the old garage is,” he said.
“Where is she?” Emily asked.
Caleb looked back toward the ballroom.
“She went to confront Preston.”
They hurried through the service hall.
As they reached the garage, a gunshot echoed somewhere inside the mansion.
Emily stopped.
A second shot followed.
Then the estate’s fire alarm began to scream.
Smoke drifted through the corridor behind them.
Daniel pushed open the garage door.
The old vehicle storage room was empty.
Every car had been removed.
On the floor lay Vanessa’s red shoe.
Beside it was a trail of blood leading back toward the mansion.
Emily’s phone rang.
Preston’s name appeared on the screen.
She answered.
His voice was low and controlled.
“Bring me the ledger, Emily.”
May you like
In the background, Vanessa was crying.
Then Preston added, “Or neither Vanessa nor your unborn child will survive this night.”
