Chapter 59: CHAPTER 59: The Mansion Under Suspicion
My heart was still racing when a voice drifted up from the lower floor, sharp enough to cut straight through the darkness and freeze me in place. “Sera?” Neille’s voice echoed faintly through the staircase, carrying urgency that made my stomach drop. I went completely still, every muscle locking as panic surged through me like ice water. She was looking for me. Of all the people in the house, it had to be her. My eyes flew to the dressing room door behind me, the thin crack of darkness hiding Wilder inside. “No, no, no…” I whispered under my breath, my pulse roaring in my ears. If she came upstairs and found me hovering outside Elara’s rooms in the middle of a power outage, everything would unravel in seconds.
Her footsteps sounded again, closer this time, moving across the marble floor below. “Sera?” she called once more, louder now, and the sound snapped me out of my frozen terror. I couldn’t let her come looking for me. I had to go to her first. I forced my feet to move even though they felt like they didn’t belong to me, turning away from the dressing room door with one last terrified glance. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered to the darkness, as if Wilder could somehow hear me through the wood. Then I slipped into the corridor, pulling the door almost closed behind me and praying the tiny click didn’t echo down the hallway like a confession.
The staircase looked endless in the dark. Without the lights, every step felt uncertain, the banister cold and unfamiliar beneath my trembling hand. I forced myself to breathe slowly as I descended, trying to quiet the frantic rhythm of my heart before she saw me. By the time the ground floor came into view, voices were still murmuring near the service corridor, staff whispering anxiously about the power. Neille stood near the foyer, her silhouette outlined by the faint glow of emergency lights from the far hallway. The moment she spotted me, relief washed over her face. “There you are,” she said quickly, stepping toward me. “I’ve been calling for you. Where did you go?”
My mouth went dry. For a split second, no words came at all. Then instinct took over. “I—I was upstairs,” I said, forcing my voice to sound steadier than I felt. “I thought I heard something near the bedrooms when the lights went out.” The lie slid out too easily, and guilt twisted sharply in my chest. Neille frowned, glancing toward the dark staircase behind me. “Upstairs? Alone?” she asked, her voice lowering with concern. “You shouldn’t be wandering around in the dark. Everyone’s already on edge.” I nodded quickly, wrapping my arms around myself as if I were cold instead of terrified. “I didn’t want anyone else to panic,” I murmured. “I just wanted to check.”
She exhaled shakily, rubbing her arms as if the darkness had seeped into her bones too. “The whole electrical system is down,” she said. “Completely down. They’re saying the generator didn’t even kick in. That never happens here.” Her eyes searched mine, worry flickering in their depths. “It’s strange, isn’t it?” My heartbeat thundered louder, each word she spoke tightening the knot in my chest. “Maybe it’s just a fault,” I said quickly, praying my voice didn’t betray the truth clawing inside me. “These things happen sometimes.” Even to my own ears, the reassurance sounded thin and fragile.
Neille hesitated, then nodded slowly. “Maybe,” she said, though uncertainty lingered in her expression. A shout echoed faintly from the service corridor, calling her name, and she glanced over her shoulder. “I need to help them check the fuse panels again,” she said. “Stay downstairs, okay? Don’t go wandering off. We don’t know how long the lights will be out.” I nodded again, forcing a small, obedient smile that felt like it might crack my face in half. “I won’t,” I promised, the lie burning hot on my tongue.
I had barely taken a step toward the staircase when harsh beams of white light sliced through the darkness, flooding the foyer in sudden brightness. I froze mid-movement, my breath catching painfully in my throat. Two security guards emerged from the corridor leading to the control rooms, flashlights sweeping across the walls, the floor, the staircase—everywhere. The sharp click of their boots against the marble sounded deafening in the quiet house. My stomach dropped so fast it felt like the ground had vanished beneath me.
Neille turned back at the sudden commotion, blinking against the blinding lights. “What’s going on?” she asked, her voice tight with worry. One of the guards stepped forward, lifting his flashlight slightly so the beam landed near our feet instead of our faces. Even in the dim emergency glow, his expression looked tense. “Have either of you seen anyone unfamiliar tonight?” he asked firmly. The question slammed into my chest like a physical blow. For a split second, I couldn’t breathe.
Neille shook her head immediately. “No. We’ve been with the staff in the service corridor trying to figure out the power outage,” she said quickly. Her gaze flicked toward me. “Sera just came down from upstairs. She thought she heard something, but she didn’t see anyone either.” My heart lurched violently at her words. The guard’s flashlight shifted slightly, its beam brushing over my shoes before moving away again. “No,” I forced out, my voice barely steady. “I didn’t see anyone.”
The second guard exchanged a grim look with the first. “We were afraid of that,” he muttered. Neille stepped closer, confusion knitting her brows together. “Afraid of what?” she asked. The first guard exhaled slowly, as if choosing his words carefully. “Someone broke into the mansion,” he said. “The electrical system didn’t fail on its own. It was tampered with. Completely shut down.”
The words rang in my ears, loud and suffocating. Someone broke in. Hearing it spoken aloud made the reality crash over me like a wave. Neille gasped softly beside me, one hand flying to her chest. “Broke in?” she repeated in disbelief. “That’s impossible. The gates, the cameras—everything is monitored.” The guard shook his head. “The back gate system was disabled. Whoever did this knew exactly what they were doing.”
A cold shiver crawled down my spine, icy and relentless. Wilder. Every word they spoke tightened the invisible noose around my chest. “We’re doing a full sweep of the grounds and the house,” the second guard added. “No one is to be alone until we confirm the intruder is gone.” His flashlight swept toward the staircase, lingering there for a long, terrifying second before moving away again. My pulse roared so loudly I was sure they could hear it.
Neille stepped closer to me instinctively, her shoulder brushing mine as if seeking comfort. “This is terrifying,” she whispered, her voice trembling. I nodded faintly, unable to trust myself to speak.