Chapter 12 - The Last Warning
Daniel stepped closer to the monitor.
The woman on the screen looked weak, but her voice was steady.
“Daniel, do not finish the third movement.”
His throat tightened.
“Lydia?”
The woman closed her eyes briefly, as if hearing the name after a long silence.
“Yes.”
Samuel moved beside Daniel.
“Where are you?”
Lydia’s expression changed when she saw him.
“You should not have come back.”
Arthur’s voice suddenly entered the room through hidden speakers.
“But he always comes back.”
The video image widened.
Lydia was not alone.
Arthur stood behind the piano, holding Tape Eighteen in one hand.
Daniel looked around the white room.
“Where is this feed coming from?”
Samuel examined the monitor’s cables.
“Private network. It could be anywhere.”
Victor pointed toward the flowers beside the empty hospital bed.
“They’re fresh.”
Eleanor picked up the card attached to them.
There was no message, only the symbol of a small guitar crossed by a musical note.
Daniel looked at his tattoo.
“Arthur has been using the symbol.”
Lydia leaned toward the camera.
“The tattoo was never a family mark. It was a warning.”
Arthur smiled behind her.
“Tell him the rest.”
She refused.
Arthur placed Tape Eighteen on the piano.
Daniel pressed his hand against the screen.
“Why did Elena raise me?”
Lydia’s eyes filled with tears.
“Because I failed to protect you.”
“From Arthur?”
“From all of them.”
Samuel’s jaw tightened.
“What does that mean?”
Lydia looked directly at him.
“You still think the fire was about the music.”
Samuel said nothing.
“The fire was about Daniel,” she continued.
The room seemed to shrink around him.
Victor stepped forward.
“He was only a baby.”
Lydia turned toward Victor.
“And already worth more than the foundation.”
Daniel looked between them.
“What was I worth?”
Arthur answered from the screen.
“Ownership.”
He opened a thin folder and removed an old contract.
“Lydia’s father created the Vale Cultural Trust. Control passed to her first child.”
Eleanor stared at Daniel.
“The foundation was never Victor’s.”
“No,” Arthur said. “It belonged to the boy.”
Victor looked stunned.
“I bought the foundation legally.”
Arthur laughed.
“You bought stolen paper.”
Lydia suddenly pressed one piano key.
A low note sounded through the speakers.
Then the screen flickered.
For one second, another image appeared behind the live feed: a clock reading 1:18.
Samuel noticed it.
“That isn’t a time.”
Daniel understood.
“Tape One and Tape Eighteen.”
The screen returned to Lydia.
She whispered quickly, “Combine them.”
Arthur grabbed her shoulder.
The feed went black.
At the same moment, the white room door slammed shut.
May you like
A mechanical lock clicked from the outside.
Then gas began hissing through the ceiling vents.
