Chapter 3: The Room Beneath the Forty-First Floor
The words on the screen stayed there for seven seconds.
Seven seconds that felt like an entire lifetime.
*WELCOME BACK, SUBJECT LILY PARKER.*
Nobody in the lobby breathed.
Nobody moved.
Then Lily screamed.
Not loudly.
Not like a child throwing a tantrum.
It was a sound I had never heard from my daughter before.
A sound of pure terror.
She grabbed my hand so tightly her fingernails pressed into my skin.
“Daddy…”
The word was barely audible.
But it was enough.
I dropped to my knees in front of her.
“Lily, look at me.””
Her eyes were fixed on the black screen.
“Look at me, sweetheart.””
Slowly, she did.
Her face was pale.
Her lips trembled.
“Tell me what you remember.””
For two years, I had begged for words.
Any words.
A question.
A sentence.
A single explanation for why my little girl disappeared into silence after losing her mother.
Now she was finally speaking.
But I wasn’t ready for the answer.
Lily pointed toward the elevator.
“Under.””
I frowned.
“What?””
She swallowed hard.
“Under the building.””
Emma stepped closer.
A tear rolled down her cheek.
“She remembers.””
I looked at her.
“You knew?””
Emma nodded slowly.
“She was there.””
My stomach tightened.
“There where?””
Emma looked at the hidden floors displayed on the security monitor.
“The night I disappeared.””
The entire lobby seemed to tilt.
I stood up.
“What are you saying?””
Emma looked at Lily.
Then back at me.
“I didn’t die in that accident.””
The words were quiet.
But they destroyed everything I thought I knew.
“The crash was staged.””
A woman near the elevator gasped.
Marcus immediately closed the lobby doors and activated the emergency locks.
Nobody left.
Nobody entered.
The Meridian Tower had always felt like a fortress.
Now it felt like a prison.
“You’re telling me my wife’s death was fake?”” I asked.
Emma nodded.
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Her eyes moved toward Mr. Vance.
Because suddenly everyone knew who had the answer.
The billionaire developer stood near the elevator, calm and untouched by the chaos around him.
“You’re making this dramatic,” he said.
Marcus turned toward him.
“James Vance.””
The man smiled slightly.
“Marcus.””
“You should have left.””
James looked amused.
“And you should have stayed quiet.””
I stepped between them.
“What did you do?””
James looked at me.
Not with anger.
Not with guilt.
With curiosity.
Like I was a puzzle he was trying to solve.
“David Parker.””
He said my name slowly.
“You have no idea what you moved into.””
I felt my hands curl into fists.
“I moved my daughter into a building.””
“No.””
James glanced around the lobby.
“You moved her into a machine.””
Nobody spoke.
He continued.
“The Meridian was never just apartments.””
Marcus moved toward the control panel.
“Stop talking.””
James laughed softly.
“Why? The truth is already out.””
He pointed toward Lily.
“She found the access point.””
My heart tightened.
“Found what?””
James looked at my daughter.
“The program.””
Emma immediately stepped forward.
“Don’t call it that.””
James’s expression hardened.
“You don’t get to decide what she is anymore.””
The way he said it made my blood run cold.
“What she is?””
I looked at Lily.
Then at him.
“She’s my daughter.””
James didn’t answer.
That silence told me everything.
I grabbed Marcus’s arm.
“What is he talking about?””
Marcus hesitated.
That scared me more than anything.
Because Marcus always seemed to have answers.
But now he looked afraid.
“The Meridian was designed with a private research facility beneath it.””
My voice lowered.
“Research facility?””
Marcus nodded.
“Officially, it doesn’t exist.””
“And Lily?””
Marcus looked at the little girl holding my hand.
“She was part of an observation project.””
I stared at him.
“No.””
The word came out automatically.
“No.””
Emma stepped closer.
“David…”
“No.””
I shook my head.
“I know my daughter.””
Marcus looked at me sadly.
“I know you do.””
“Then don’t stand there and tell me she’s some experiment.””
“She wasn’t supposed to be.””
That sentence stopped me.
“What does that mean?””
Marcus looked toward the elevator.
“The original project studied memory, trauma response, and human behavior under extreme emotional conditions.””
I felt sick.
“Using children?””
Nobody answered.
Nobody had to.
Lily covered her ears.
“Daddy…”
I immediately turned back to her.
“I’m here.””
She looked up at me.
“They took Mommy.””
My heart shattered.
“What?””
Her breathing became faster.
“They took Mommy because she knew.””
Emma covered her mouth.
The memory clearly hurt her.
“Lily…”
My daughter looked at her mother.
“You told me to hide.””
Emma fell to her knees.
“Yes.””
“I hid behind the door.””
“Yes.””
“You cried.””
Emma couldn’t speak.
Lily’s voice became stronger.
“You said Daddy couldn’t know.””
I looked at Emma.
The pain in her face answered before her words did.
“I was trying to protect you both.””
“By disappearing?””
Her eyes filled with tears.
“By staying alive.””
The lobby went silent again.
Then the security monitors flickered.
A new video appeared.
A hallway.
A room.
A younger Lily.
Maybe five years old.
My knees almost collapsed.
Because I was watching my daughter on a screen.
Inside a room beneath my home.
She sat at a small table.
Drawing.
Across from her stood James Vance.
“You recognize this?”” Emma whispered.
I couldn’t answer.
The video played.
Young Lily looked scared.
James placed a drawing in front of her.
“Can you tell me what you see?””
Little Lily shook her head.
“No.””
“Try again.””
“No.””
James leaned closer.
“Your mother says you notice things other people don’t.””
Little Lily looked toward the camera.
Then whispered something.
The audio was distorted.
Marcus adjusted the volume.
Everyone leaned closer.
The tiny voice came through.
“They’re hiding people.””
My blood turned cold.
James on the video became still.
“What people?””
Lily looked down at her drawing.
“The ones who never leave.””
The screen went black.
Nobody spoke.
Then Brenda laughed.
A small, broken laugh.
Everyone turned toward her.
She stood near the front desk, her fake pregnancy device still collapsed around her.
“You all think you understand.””
Marcus looked at her.
“Brenda.””
She smiled.
“You don’t.””
James looked annoyed.
“Enough.””
But Brenda ignored him.
She looked directly at me.
“Your daughter was the only one who figured it out.””
“What?””
She walked closer.
“She wasn’t supposed to remember the rooms.””
Marcus stepped forward.
“Don’t.””
But Brenda continued.
“She wasn’t supposed to remember the voices.””
Lily started shaking.
I pulled her behind me.
“What voices?””
Brenda’s smile faded.
“The children.””
A cold silence filled the lobby.
“What children?”” I asked.
Brenda looked at the elevator.
“The ones still below us.””
Suddenly, every light in the building went out.
The emergency system failed.
The lobby fell into darkness.
Then a sound came from beneath our feet.
A slow mechanical movement.
Like a massive door opening underground.
A voice echoed through the speakers.
Not James.
Not Marcus.
Not Brenda.
A child’s voice.
A little girl’s voice.
“Lily?””
My daughter froze.
The voice continued.
“We thought you forgot us.””
Lily’s fingers went numb inside mine.
Because she recognized it.
I saw it in her face.
She whispered the name.
A name I had never heard before.
“Anna.””
The elevator doors opened.
But there was no one inside.
Only a small piece of paper lying on the floor.
Marcus picked it up.
His face changed as soon as he read it.
“What is it?”” I asked.
He slowly turned the paper around.
It was a list.
Names.
Dates.
Status reports.
At the bottom was the newest entry.
Added just minutes ago.
*SUBJECT: LILY PARKER*
*STATUS: RETURNED.*
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And beneath it, written in red ink:
*BRING HER HOME.*
