The Heiress's Comeback
Chapter 374: [ Volume 1] Chaper 374- Hidden room.

Chapter 374: [ Volume 1] Chaper 374- Hidden room.

I searched every inch of that place, each corner more unsettling than the last. Something wasn’t right. The products—canned goods, dried grains, bottled water—lined the shelves in pristine condition, their dates telling an unusual story. They weren’t expired, but they weren’t new either, like they’d been preserved in time. There was enough food and supplies for not just one or two people, but seven, maybe eight, to live comfortably for thirty years. Without work. Without ever stepping outside.

Driven by an eerie curiosity, I kept searching. That’s when I noticed it—an odd-looking shelf tucked into the farthest corner of the room. It wasn’t just furniture; its placement felt deliberate. I pressed on it, inspected the books stacked on it, and noticed a faint pattern. One by one, I lifted the books, replacing them in their exact order. As the final book slid into place, a faint click echoed in the quiet, and the entire cupboard trembled before sliding aside with a groaning rumble.

Behind it, a dark doorway emerged, leading to a spiraling staircase that descended into the unknown. My breath caught as I stepped closer, a chill creeping up my spine. Upstairs had been strange enough—a supermarket hidden in plain sight—but this... this was something else entirely.

Down the stairs, the air grew colder, heavier. And then I saw it. A sprawling underground facility, illuminated by flickering fluorescent lights. Rooms stretched out in every direction, each filled with machines humming with life. Generators sat in one corner, buzzing softly, while other rooms were locked tight, their contents concealed. The place felt alive, as if it had been waiting, untouched, for decades.

"I know... believing it isn’t easy. Honestly, if someone had told me a story like this, I wouldn’t have believed it either," Esme’s voice crackled through the recording. Her expression flickered with a mix of exhaustion and frustration. "To think that something like this existed in my house—it sounds impossible, doesn’t it?"

The brothers exchanged glances, their skepticism battling with the tension in the air. The recording continued as Esme’s voice softened. "But it’s real. Everything I’m telling you is real. And whether you believe me or not, you have to see it for yourselves. Push the study table aside. Beneath it lies the truth I found—."

The group exchanged puzzled glances, their breaths shallow. Ray was the first to act, gripping the laptop with steady hands, while the others gathered around the heavy table. The air felt charged, as if even the walls were holding secrets. With a collective push, the table screeched against the marble floor, leaving a faint echo in the tense silence.

At first, nothing seemed out of place. The marble flooring beneath the table gleamed under the dim light, its polished surface blending seamlessly with the rest of the room. But Jay, always the most observant of the brothers, froze mid-motion. His eyes narrowed as he knelt, pressing his palm flat against the cold stone.

"It’s too smooth," he muttered, running his fingers over the surface with an intensity that made the others lean closer. "Marble like this shouldn’t feel... synthetic." He rubbed the spot with more pressure, his expression sharpening as he brought his hand up to his nose. A faint scent lingered—chemical, unnatural.

Straightening, Jay fixed his brothers with a knowing look. "This isn’t just flooring. It’s hiding something. Help me lift it."

The brothers wasted no time. They circled the marble slab, their fingers searching for any edge, any grip. They heaved, muscles straining as their combined strength barely budged the stone. It was heavy—far heavier than it should have been.

"This isn’t normal," Ray hissed, his jaw clenched. "It’s locked down somehow."

Esme’s voice crackled through the laptop, her tone low but commanding. "Don’t stop. If it’s anything like what I found, there’s a mechanism. Look closely—there must be a way to release it."

Jay’s eyes darted over the edges of the marble, scanning every detail. That’s when he noticed it—a hairline seam, so faint it was almost invisible. His fingers traced it, feeling the slightest groove. "Here," he said, pointing. "This seam. It’s a panel, not solid marble."

The group worked quickly now, their earlier frustration replaced by determination. Jay pressed his fingers along the groove, searching for a pressure point. With a soft click, the panel shifted, releasing a hiss of air as it loosened from its lock.

The brothers exchanged wide-eyed glances before lifting the panel, revealing a dark, yawning void beneath. A staircase spiraled downward, the air wafting up cool and stale, tinged with the metallic scent of old machinery.

"What the hell..." Ray whispered, peering into the abyss.

Ray stared at the open passage, his mind swirling in disbelief. His entire life had been spent in this house, and yet, he had never even suspected such a thing could exist.

A secret passage—hidden in plain sight—all these years? It didn’t make sense. What the hell was going on here?

He tried to piece it together, his thoughts racing. How could a passage like this even exist on the second floor? It defied logic. If there was a hidden staircase leading downward, then where did it lead? And how was it that no other part of the house—no walls, no rooms—showed even the slightest hint of this strangeness? Every creak, every uneven floorboard, every odd sound in the night... none of it had ever hinted at something like this.

Ray’s eyes darted to the opening. The room below, from what he glimpsed earlier, was massive—far larger than the one they stood in now. Double, at least. How had they never noticed? Even if there had been a staircase hidden somewhere, it should’ve disrupted the layout of the house. But no. The house was perfect, normal, flawless in its structure. It made no sense.

If this passage was on the first floor, maybe I could believe it, Ray thought. But on the second floor? With no sign, no clue? How? He clenched his fists, frustration bubbling beneath his skin.

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