Chapter 25 - The Shadow in the Mirror
That evening, a celebratory dinner filled the dining room with the sounds of laughter, clinking glasses, and genuine warmth. For the first time in his life, Noah fell asleep without checking the window locks or asking if the front gate was closed.
Around midnight, Ryan walked through the silent house, checking the rooms one last time. The air was cool, carrying the sweet scent of pine needles from the lake.
He stopped in the grand library, where his father’s portrait had once hung. In its place, Ryan had hung a framed black-and-white photograph of Noah and Evelyn laughing on a sunny beach, taken weeks before everything fell apart.
Ryan poured himself a glass of water, feeling a profound sense of closure settle over his tired soul.
Then, his phone buzzed on the desk.
It was an unlisted international number.
Ryan hesitated, his thumb hovering over the screen. He answered, holding the phone to his ear without speaking.
*"Ryan?"*
The voice was faint, raspy, and distorted by an ocean of static. It was a woman’s voice—fragile, aged, but undeniably alive.
Ryan’s breath caught in his throat. Every hair on his arms stood on end.
*"Ryan, if you can hear this... don't trust Pendelton,"* the woman whispered desperately through the static. *"Marcus didn't kill me. David didn't hide Noah to protect him from Marcus. They hid him to protect him from what is buried beneath the lakebed dam... Ryan, tell Noah his mother is coming home—"*
The line was violently severed.
A sharp, metallic screech echoed from the dark waters outside.
May you like
Ryan spun toward the library French doors.
Far out in the center of the pitch-black lake, beneath the moonless sky, a massive mechanical dredging rig had silently anchored near the deep-water dam. And slowly, an ominous green searchlight from the vessel swept across the water, locking directly onto the window where Ryan stood.
