Chapter 7 - THE ROOM BENEATH THE GARAGE
The police returned to Luke's property with Barron.
I wasn't there.
Daniel insisted.
But I watched through a live feed from the police vehicle.
The garage looked ordinary.
Concrete floor.
Tool cabinets.
Old boxes.
Nothing suspicious.
Barron walked to the far wall.
He pointed toward a metal shelf.
Detective Morgan moved it.
Behind it was a keypad.
My heart raced.
Barron entered a code.
The wall opened.
A hidden staircase descended into darkness.
No one spoke.
Detective Morgan led the team down.
The first room contained computers.
The second contained file cabinets.
The third contained photographs.
Hundreds of them.
Women.
Families.
Addresses.
Bank accounts.
Employment records.
I felt sick.
This wasn't an ordinary criminal operation.
It was an organized system.
Daniel stared at the screen.
“Clover.”
“What?”
“You need to see this.”
He turned the monitor toward me.
A folder appeared.
MY PROFILE.
Inside were photographs of me from before I met Luke.
My workplace.
My apartment.
My friends.
My family.
My car.
My bank.
My daily schedule.
I felt dizzy.
“He researched me.”
Daniel nodded.
“Before he approached you.”
Before I could respond, Detective Morgan called from the room.
“We found something.”
A file.
Inside was a list of names.
One was circled.
Mine.
Beside it was a number.
$3.8M.
My estimated net worth.
I stared at it.
Then another note.
ACQUISITION COMPLETE.
My hands trembled.
Daniel whispered:
“He never saw you as a wife.”
I looked at the screen.
“He saw me as an investment.”
Then Detective Morgan opened another folder.
A video file.
Recorded years ago.
Luke appeared on screen.
Younger.
Calmer.
Smiling.
He was speaking to someone off-camera.
“Once she trusts me, I'll handle the accounts.”
A woman's voice asked:
“And if she resists?”
Luke smiled.
“She won't.”
The video ended.
But there was another.
And another.
Conversations.
Plans.
Bank transfers.
Names.
Evidence.
Enough evidence to destroy him.
Then Detective Morgan found something else.
A locked cabinet.
Inside were passports.
Six of them.
Women who had supposedly moved overseas.
Women who had supposedly left their husbands.
Women who had supposedly disappeared.
I covered my mouth.
“Are they alive?”
“We're checking.”
Then Detective Morgan pulled out a final folder.
On the cover was my name.
Inside was a document dated two weeks before my injury.
I read the title.
EMERGENCY MEDICAL CONSENT.
My blood froze.
It authorized Luke to make medical decisions for me.
The signature at the bottom looked like mine.
But I had never signed it.
Daniel examined it.
“Forgery.”
I looked at him.
“Can he be charged for this?”
“Yes.”
“Then arrest him.”
Daniel looked at me.
“We're going to.”
But before he could say anything else, Detective Morgan's radio crackled.
She listened.
Then her face changed.
“What happened?” I asked.
She looked toward the camera.
“Luke is heading toward the hospital.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He knows we're here.”
Daniel grabbed his coat.
“Clover, we're moving you.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere he can't find.”
Then the hospital alarm began ringing.
And somewhere downstairs, a security officer shouted:
“There's a man trying to get through the emergency entrance!”
May you like
I knew immediately.
Luke had come for me.
