Part 2 — The Snake Was Only the Beginning
I couldn’t move.
The python slowly lifted its head.
Its tongue flicked through the air.
I backed toward the door, trying not to make any sudden movement.
My hand reached behind me.
The door handle.
I grabbed it.
It didn’t move.
Locked.
My heart began pounding.
“Help!” I screamed.
Nothing.
I tried again.
“Help me!”
Still nothing.
The python slid slowly across the bed.
Then I noticed something strange.
There was a small red mark around its neck.
Not a natural pattern.
A collar.
I stared at it.
Someone had deliberately placed the snake inside the room.
This wasn’t an accident.
Someone had planned it.
I pulled out my phone.
No signal.
I tried calling Beatrice.
Nothing.
I tried the man who had brought me there.
Straight to voicemail.
Then I heard something.
Footsteps outside the door.
I froze.
Someone was walking down the hallway.
“Please!” I shouted.
The footsteps stopped.
I heard a key slide into the lock.
The door opened.
A woman stood there.
She wasn’t a hotel employee.
She wore a dark coat and held a small metal case.
The moment she saw the snake, she didn’t look surprised.
She looked relieved.
“You’re still alive.”
I stared at her.
“Who are you?”
She closed the door behind her.
“Don’t move.”
“Where is the man who brought me here?”
She ignored my question.
Instead, she slowly opened the metal case.
Inside was a small device.
She pressed a button.
The python immediately became still.
I stared at her.
“What did you do?”
“Relax.”
She stepped toward the bed.
“The snake isn’t here to attack you.”
I looked at her in disbelief.
“Then why is it here?”
She looked directly at me.
“Because whoever put it here wanted you to think you were the target.”
I didn’t understand.
“What does that mean?”
She reached beneath the bed.
Then she pulled out a small black bag.
She opened it.
Inside were documents.
Bank statements.
Photographs.
Passports.
And several envelopes filled with cash.
I stared at them.
“What is all this?”
The woman handed me a photograph.
It showed Beatrice standing beside several men at the mansion.
I looked closer.
One of the men was the person who had approached me that night.
But the photograph was dated three months earlier.
He hadn’t met me for the first time at the party.
He had been watching me long before that.
My stomach dropped.
“Why?”
The woman looked at me.
“Because your friend didn’t bring you to that party by accident.”
I felt sick.
“Beatrice?”
“She was paid to find you.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“She was looking for someone with your background.”
“My background?”
The woman nodded.
“Your family.”
I stared at her.
“My parents?”
“Yes.”
She pulled out another document.
“This is a financial investigation.”
I read the name at the top.
It was my father’s company.
My hands began shaking.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
The woman lowered her voice.
“Your father has been trying to expose an international money-laundering operation.”
I stared at her.
“And they think I know something?”
“No.”
She paused.
“They think you can lead them to something your father hid.”
My heart pounded.
“I don’t know anything.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why am I here?”
She looked toward the snake.
“Because someone wants everyone to believe you’re dead.”
I couldn’t breathe.
“What?”
She pointed toward the python.
“The snake was supposed to create panic. Then the room would be sealed and the incident would be reported as an accident.”
I stepped backward.
“But why would anyone want me dead?”
The woman pulled another photograph from the bag.
It showed my father.
Standing beside him was Beatrice.
I stared at it.
“That can’t be.”
“It was taken six months ago.”
“But Beatrice told me she’d never met my family.”
“She lied.”
I looked at the woman.
“Who are you?”
She hesitated.
Then she reached into her coat and showed me an identification card.
“My name is Elena Marquez. I’m investigating the people behind this operation.”
I stared at the card.
“Why are you helping me?”
“Because you’re not the only person they’ve targeted.”
She took out her phone.
“There are three other women who disappeared after being recruited through parties like the one you attended.”
My blood ran cold.
“What happened to them?”
“We don’t know.”
Then her phone suddenly rang.
She answered.
“Hello?”
Her expression changed.
She listened for several seconds.
Then looked at me.
“We have to leave.”
“Why?”
“They know you’re still alive.”
A loud sound came from the hallway.
Someone had slammed a door.
Then another.
Elena grabbed the metal case.
“Stay behind me.”
We moved toward the exit.
But before I could reach the door, my phone suddenly buzzed.
One message.
From Beatrice.
I opened it.
There were only six words:
Helen, don’t trust the woman with you.
I looked at Elena.
She saw the message.
Her face changed.
Then she whispered:
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because Beatrice sent me the same message five minutes ago.”
I stared at her.
Neither of us spoke.
Then another message appeared.
This time, it came from an unknown number.
You have ten minutes to find the key.
Beneath it was a photograph.
It showed my father’s study.
And on his desk was a small wooden box.
A box I remembered seeing when I was a child.
Elena looked at the photograph.
“Your father hid something.”
I nodded slowly.
“And whoever is behind this believes the key is with me.”
She looked toward the locked hotel door.
“Then we need to get out before they find it.”
But as we reached the hallway, I suddenly noticed something that made me stop.
The python’s collar had a tiny metal tag attached to it.
I picked it up.
There was a number engraved on the back.
It wasn’t a hotel number.
It was a bank account number.
And when Elena saw it, all the color disappeared from her face.
“That isn’t an account number,” she whispered.
“Then what is it?”
She stared at me.
“It’s a safe-deposit box number.”
I looked at her.
“Whose?”
She swallowed.
“Your father’s.”
And suddenly I understood.
The snake hadn’t been placed in that room to kill me.
It had been placed there to deliver a message.
Someone wanted me to find my father’s hidden secret.
And they were willing to kill anyone who got there first.