Chantelle stood up and covered her face with her hand, overwhelmed. She had to find a way to open that door. If she didn’t do it, she might be standing there when they brought his body back.
Just as panic started to sink in, the door slid open.
She turned and saw Stephanie beside Kane, giving instructions. "Shut the door right after Mommy leaves. Don’t open it for anyone, okay?"
Railer looked at her with teary eyes. "You’ll bring Daddy back, right?"
"I will." Chantelle walked out without looking back. But before she could take another step, everything went dark. She collapsed.
Kane closed his laptop and rushed to Chantelle. Railer ran after him, looking worried. Only Stephanie stayed calm. "Quick! Help Mommy up," she said.
Railer looked at her and understood right away.
Kane gently picked Chantelle up, tears falling as he moved. He laid her down on the sofa and said, "I’m going to find Uncle Russell. Stay here!"
He knew this was the moment he had to step up and act like the man of the house.
"I gave Mommy a sedative," Stephanie blurted out casually. "Don’t worry, she’s just asleep."
Kane gasped when he heard that. "Mommy’s going to scold you when she wakes up, Steph!"
"What did you want me to do? Watch Mommy get hurt?" Stephanie said, rolling her eyes.
Kane didn’t answer. He just shook his head and hid behind Railer.
Railer stood by the door, eyes full of worry. Kane noticed it and walked over to him.
"Don’t worry. Daddy will be fine," he said, trying to comfort him.
Railer nodded. Then he grabbed a towel, wrung it out, and gently wiped Chantelle’s face.
Stephanie grabbed her phone and quickly called Calvin to tell him what had happened.
Kane wanted to help, too, but he wasn’t sure how. After thinking for a moment, he opened his laptop and turned on the GPS to track Daniel’s phone. Then he pulled up the nearby surveillance cameras.
"Oh no! Daddy’s in danger!" Kane suddenly shouted.
Stephanie and Railer rushed over to look.
On the screen, they saw Daniel’s car parked outside a restaurant. Then he walked inside with Calvin and two bodyguards.
However, inside the restaurant, it looked like all the waiters and guests were carrying weapons. There were even two bombs hidden inside.
Railer quickly tried calling Daniel, but the call wouldn’t go through. It looked like the signal in that area was blocked.
Stephanie hadn’t been able to reach Calvin either.
"What do we do now?" Railer asked, clearly worried.
Stephanie pulled out a large white device and tried calling Daniel again, while Kane worked on breaking through the signal-blocking system in the restaurant.
"Daddy, don’t go in! Everyone in the restaurant works for Trenton, and the real Trenton isn’t even there!" Stephanie shouted as soon as the call connected.
Daniel stopped in his tracks. He looked at his phone and saw that the signal was weak.
Still, he took a step forward like nothing had happened. "Tell Kane to shut down the laptop. Now."
"Daddy, we can help you. We can see everything from here and warn you," Stephanie said, hoping they could guide him to safety.
But Daniel blurted firmly again. "Turn off the laptop right now. It’s a trap. Trenton planned everything seamlessly."
Stephanie was stunned, then yanked the power cable from Kane’s laptop.
"Steph, what are you doing? Plug it back in!" Kane panicked. "Someone just hacked our defense system!" He knew something felt strange the moment he connected to the restaurant’s cameras.
He reached for the laptop, but Stephanie had already pulled everything out.
"Daddy said it’s a trap. Trenton set it up," Stephanie said, feeling anxious.
Railer quickly intervened. "Plug it back Steph. Kane has to stop them. If we don’t help daddy, we’ll lose everything."
Without waiting, he shoved the cables back in himself.
Chantelle was still unconscious. If someone from the outside had hacked their base’s defense system, they’d be trapped with no way out.
Stephanie glanced at the screen. Trenton wasn’t in the restaurant. So where was he?
Was he coming for them?
Kane stared at his laptop seriously while his hands were working.
From the look on his face, Stephanie could tell that they were up against someone dangerous.
Still, Kane seemed to have it under control. As soon as the cables were plugged back in, he quickly sent a message to Daniel.
Kane: Everything is set. Waiting for your order, Daddy!
"Stephanie, do we have weapons here?" Railer suddenly asked.
Stephanie pondered for a moment, then walked over to the console and pressed a few buttons.
The automatic door slid open, revealing another one behind it.
"Don’t worry," Stephanie said. "There are plenty of security doors here. It’s not easy for anyone from outside to break in."
"Are you sure Trenton doesn’t know?" Railer asked, still nervous.
Stephanie shook her head. "The doors were built by Xander and Mommy. I don’t think Trenton knows she’s hiding us here. If he did, he wouldn’t have tried to track us when Kane connected to the cameras at the restaurant."
Chantelle owned several houses in Carcosa. She chose to hide them in this one because she believed the most dangerous place was sometimes the safest.
Trenton had actually checked the house before. But he had no idea there was a hidden base underground.
Xander! That’s it. I need to find him!
Stephanie rushed into one of the rooms and came back with two invisibility cloaks. She handed one to Kane and the other to Railer.
But Railer didn’t want to take it.
"It’s a little small on you, so you’ll need to find a good hiding spot," Stephanie said as she forced the cloak over him.
Railer didn’t even have the strength to fight back.
"I don’t want to wear it. You wear it!" he protested again.
"Just put it on!" Stephanie snarled. "Trenton knows we have invisibility cloaks. When he gets in, hide. Take Kane with you. I’ll try to distract him."
"What about you? What about Mommy?" Railer’s voice shook, and his eyes filled with tears.
"We’ll hide Mommy," Stephanie said as she pressed a button on the sofa’s armrest.
Four wheels slid out from underneath the sofa.
She pushed it easily toward the wall.
"Stephanie, open the hidden door," she said suddenly. The source of this content ɪs No(ᴠ)ᴇlFire.nᴇt
Instantly, a screen rose from the center of the room, showing a virtual girl who looked exactly like her.
"The hidden door is opened," the virtual Stephanie replied.