**Chapter Seven: Unraveling the Truth**
Jax's heart raced as he crouched behind the boxes, his mind reeling with the implications of what he’d just uncovered. Phil was still rifling through the contents of the chest, muttering to himself. The weight of the old photographs and disturbing documents felt heavy in his hands, anchoring him to the grim reality they were facing.
After what felt like an eternity, Phil finally turned away, muttering under his breath as he exited the storage room. Jax signaled to Lily and Damian, who emerged cautiously from their hiding spot.
“Did he see you?” Lily whispered, her eyes wide with concern.
“No, but we need to get out of here,” Jax replied, his voice tense. “We can’t stay in this hotel any longer. We have to figure out what’s really going on.”
They slipped out of the storage room and made their way back down the dim corridor, the adrenaline still surging through Jax’s veins. “We should check the office,” Jax suggested as they approached the front desk. “Maybe there are more clues there.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Damian asked, glancing back toward the kitchen. “What if Phil or Jade comes back?”
“We don’t have a choice,” Jax replied. “If they’re hiding something this big, we need to know what we’re up against.”
The trio moved quickly into the small office at the back of the lobby. The room was cluttered with old files, receipts, and various paperwork scattered across the desk. Jax’s eyes scanned the space, searching for anything that might give them more insight into the hotel’s dark history.
Lily began to sift through a stack of papers. “Look at this,” she said, holding up a faded ledger. “It looks like a record of guests who stayed here. There are a lot of names crossed out.”
Jax stepped closer, taking the ledger from her. “Let’s see what we’ve got,” he said, flipping through the pages. As he read, a chill crept down his spine. “These are the same names from the missing persons cases. They’ve been keeping track of everyone who comes here, and not all of them checked out.”
Damian leaned over his shoulder, his expression darkening. “What the hell? They’re keeping a record of their victims.”
“They’re not just running a hotel,” Jax said, anger and horror mixing in his voice. “They’re using it as a trap.”
“Why? What could they possibly gain from this?” Lily asked, her face pale.
“Power? Money? Who knows what kind of sick game they’re playing,” Jax replied, his mind racing. “But if we don’t expose them, they’ll keep doing this. We have to find a way to get this information to the police.”
“Wait, there’s more,” Damian said, pointing to a folder tucked away in a corner of the desk. “What’s this?”
Jax pulled out the folder, opening it carefully. Inside were more photographs, this time depicting unsettling scenes of rituals in the woods surrounding the hotel. The images showed groups of people, similar to the ones from the old photographs, standing in a circle, seemingly chanting. At the center, there was always a strange symbol drawn in the dirt, the same one he’d seen around the bonfire the previous night.
“This is it,” Jax said, his breath catching in his throat. “They’re involved in some kind of cult. This explains everything—their secrecy, the creepy behavior, the blood in the kitchen.”
“Are they sacrificing people?” Lily whispered, horrified.
“I don’t know, but it looks like they’re using the hotel as a front for whatever twisted rituals they’re doing,” Jax replied, his pulse quickening. “We have to get out of here and figure out how to stop them.”
