Chapter 1 - THE MAN BENEATH THE MANSION
Rachel Monroe, a young maid working at Roman DeLuca’s mansion outside Chicago, has spent three nights hearing mysterious knocking beneath the wine cellar. Everyone has been told that seventy-six-year-old estate manager Walter Bennett went to Florida after suffering heart trouble. But when Rachel discovers a hidden steel door and hears Walter’s weak voice behind it, Roman’s elegant fiancée, Cassandra Bell, catches her and threatens Rachel’s nineteen-year-old brother if she tells anyone.
During a glamorous DeLuca Foundation anniversary party, Roman notices bruises around Rachel’s wrist and realizes she is frightened. His suspicion deepens when Cassandra accidentally mentions the basement and when Walter’s sister reveals Walter never arrived in Florida. Roman confronts Rachel privately, sees a threatening message about her brother on her phone, and finally learns the truth.
Roman quietly sends men to protect Rachel’s brother and follows her beneath the mansion.
There, they discover Walter alive and overhear Cassandra speaking with Roman’s trusted uncle, Vincent DeLuca. The pair are trying to locate something hidden in the vault belonging to Roman’s dead father. Walter reveals that Roman’s father left the key with Rachel’s family.
The key is hidden inside the silver locket Rachel has worn since childhood.
Walter then makes an even more shocking revelation: Rachel’s father placed the key inside the locket on the same night Roman’s father died eighteen years earlier.
Before Walter can explain who Rachel’s father was, the mansion loses power.
The long-dormant vault security system activates.
A mechanical voice announces that someone has entered the vault.
Then it says:
WELCOME BACK, MR. DELUCA.
Roman knows his father has been dead for eighteen years.
Vincent is standing beside him.
And Roman himself is nowhere near the vault.
Walter looks directly at Rachel.
“He’s here,” he whispers.
“Who?” Roman asks.
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Walter’s answer changes everything.
“Her father.”
