Chapter 2
THUD.
THUD.
THUD.
The sound came again.
This time louder.
Lily grabbed Daniel’s shirt with both hands.
“Daddy.”
Her voice shook.
“There’s somebody in there.”
Vanessa’s face turned white.
Daniel looked at her.
Not scared.
Not confused anymore.
Furious.
“Who is behind that door?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Nobody.”
BANG!
The metal door rattled in its frame.
Daniel slowly turned back toward her.
“Nobody?”
Vanessa stepped away.
“It’s probably a pipe.”
“A pipe is knocking?”
“I don’t know.”
“You built a wall over a metal door in my house, dragged my daughter out of this room, covered her mouth, and now you want me to believe that?”
“I didn’t build anything.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
Vanessa immediately realized her mistake.
He hadn’t accused her of building it.
Only hiding it.
“How did you know it was built?”
Silence.
Lily whispered, “Daddy, she told me never to come in here.”
Daniel looked down.
“What?”
Vanessa moved toward them.
“She’s six. She gets confused.”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m not confused.”
Daniel placed himself between them.
“Stay away from her.”
Vanessa stopped.
Daniel examined the metal door.
No handle.
No visible hinges.
Only a small keypad mounted beside it.
His stomach tightened.
This wasn’t some forgotten storage compartment.
Someone had intentionally sealed this room.
And someone still had access.
Daniel looked at Vanessa again.
“Code.”
“I don’t know it.”
“Code.”
“I said I don’t know.”
BANG!
A muffled voice came through the steel.
“Help!”
Lily screamed.
Daniel lunged toward the door.
“HELLO?”
A weak voice answered.
“Please!”
Daniel’s blood ran cold.
A woman.
There was a woman trapped inside his wall.
He spun toward Vanessa.
She was already backing toward the hallway.
Daniel pointed at her.
“Don’t move.”
Vanessa turned and ran.
Daniel went after her.
“VANESSA!”
She reached the hallway.
Daniel caught her wrist before she made it to the stairs.
“Let go!”
“Who is in there?”
“I don’t know!”
“You’re lying!”
She slapped at his hand.
“Daniel, you’re hurting me!”
“You covered my daughter’s mouth!”
“She was screaming!”
“She was trying to show me a prisoner hidden inside my house!”
Vanessa froze.
Just for one second.
It was enough.
Daniel saw it.
Recognition.
Fear.
Guilt.
He lowered his voice.
“You know exactly who is behind that door.”
Vanessa’s eyes hardened.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Then tell me.”
“You think everything is simple because you walk into a room and start demanding answers.”
“There’s a woman locked behind a steel door.”
“And maybe there is a reason for that.”
Daniel stared at her.
Vanessa realized what she’d admitted.
His grip loosened from pure shock.
She ripped her arm free.
“Daniel—”
“What reason?”
“I didn’t mean—”
“What reason could possibly justify this?”
A tiny voice came from behind him.
“Daddy?”
Daniel turned.
Lily was standing in the storage-room doorway.
Her face was pale.
“She said my name.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
“What?”
“The lady.”
Lily pointed toward the hidden door.
“She knows my name.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Daniel rushed back.
He pressed his ear against the metal.
“Can you hear me?”
A weak voice answered.
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
Several seconds passed.
Then—
“My name is Claire.”
Daniel frowned.
The name meant nothing.
“Claire who?”
Vanessa suddenly shouted from behind him.
“DON’T!”
Daniel turned.
She looked terrified now.
Not angry.
Terrified.
He pressed closer to the door.
“Claire who?”
The woman began crying.
Then she spoke.
“Claire Bennett.”
Daniel’s entire body went rigid.
He knew that name.
Everyone in his family knew that name.
Claire Bennett had been his younger brother Michael’s fiancée.
Seven years ago, she disappeared three weeks before their wedding.
No body.
No note.
No explanation.
Police searched for months.
Michael had never recovered.
Daniel slowly turned toward Vanessa.
She was shaking.
“That’s impossible.”
Claire’s voice came through the door.
“Daniel?”
He stepped back.
She knew him.
“How do you know my name?”
“I heard Vanessa say it.”
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
Claire continued.
“She told me you’d never find me.”
Vanessa bolted again.
Daniel caught her before she reached the hall.
This time Lily screamed.
“Daddy!”
Daniel pulled Vanessa back into the room.
“CODE!”
“I DON’T KNOW IT!”
Claire shouted from inside.
“She does!”
Vanessa’s expression collapsed.
“She opens it every day!”
Daniel felt sick.
Every day.
“How long has she been in there?”
Claire didn’t answer immediately.
Daniel heard crying through the door.
Then—
“Seven years.”
Daniel released Vanessa.
He actually stumbled backward.
Seven years.
Impossible.
This room had been part of the mansion before Daniel inherited it from his father.
He rarely used the west wing.
Vanessa had moved in four years ago after they married.
But if Claire had been inside for seven years—
then this started long before Vanessa became Daniel’s wife.
His father had still been alive.
Michael had still lived nearby.
The wedding had still been planned.
Daniel stared at the metal door.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“No, no, no.”
Vanessa whispered, “Daniel, listen to me.”
He rounded on her.
“Seven years?”
“There are things you don’t understand.”
“OPEN IT.”
“I can’t.”
“OPEN THE DOOR!”
“She can’t.”
Claire’s voice was weaker now.
“The code isn’t enough.”
Daniel turned back.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a fingerprint scanner hidden under the keypad.”
Daniel ran his fingers beneath it.
A small panel clicked.
A red scanner lit up.
Daniel stared at Vanessa.
Her confidence was gone.
“You open it.”
Vanessa shook her head.
“You don’t want to do this.”
Daniel grabbed her hand.
She fought violently.
“No!”
He forced her palm toward the scanner.
“Daniel, STOP!”
Lily covered her ears.
The scanner beeped.
GREEN.
The locks inside the wall clicked one by one.
Vanessa stopped fighting.
Her eyes filled with panic.
Daniel pulled the door open.
A horrible smell hit the room.
Stale air.
Sweat.
Dust.
Medicine.
A narrow staircase disappeared underground.
Daniel grabbed his phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Claire?”
“Down here.”
He stepped onto the stairs.
Vanessa grabbed the back of his shirt.
“Don’t.”
Daniel turned slowly.
“Why?”
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
“Because once you go down there, you won’t be able to put your family back together.”
Daniel stared at her.
“You already destroyed it.”
He took Lily’s hand.
“No,” Vanessa said quickly. “Don’t take her.”
Daniel hesitated.
For once, Vanessa sounded genuinely afraid for Lily.
That scared him more than anything.
Daniel crouched.
“Sweetheart, stay right here.”
Lily grabbed him.
“No.”
“I’m going to help the lady.”
“Don’t leave me with Vanessa.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
He took out his phone.
No signal.
The thick walls blocked reception.
He looked toward the hallway.
“Stay by the doorway. If Vanessa moves, scream as loud as you can.”
Lily nodded.
Daniel pointed at Vanessa.
“You touch her again, I swear—”
“I’m not going to touch her.”
Daniel descended.
Ten steps.
Twenty.
Thirty.
The staircase went much deeper than expected.
At the bottom was a concrete corridor.
A light flickered overhead.
Daniel stopped.
Someone had electricity down here.
Someone had maintained this place.
A steel tray sat on a table.
Empty food containers.
Medicine bottles.
A bucket.
A camera mounted in the corner.
Daniel’s stomach twisted.
Then he saw her.
A woman was sitting on a narrow mattress behind another barred partition.
Her brown hair reached almost to her waist.
Her face was thin.
Her wrists were bruised.
But Daniel recognized her.
He had seen her photograph hundreds of times.
Claire Bennett.
Alive.
“Oh my God.”
She tried to stand.
Her legs gave out.
Daniel rushed forward.
“Claire!”
He grabbed the bars.
“Where’s the key?”
She pointed.
“Vanessa.”
Daniel shouted up the staircase.
“VANESSA!”
No answer.
“VANESSA!”
Then he heard Lily scream.
“DADDY!”
Daniel spun around.
“LILY?”
A crash came from upstairs.
Daniel ran.
He took the stairs two at a time.
“LILY!”
When he reached the storage room—
it was empty.
Lily was gone.
Vanessa was gone.
Daniel ran into the hallway.
“LILY!”
Nothing.
He sprinted downstairs.
Front door.
Open.
Daniel ran outside.
Vanessa’s car was still there.
So was his.
He turned toward the driveway.
No one.
Then his phone regained signal.
It immediately began ringing.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
Daniel answered.
“Where is my daughter?”
A man’s voice replied.
“You opened the door.”
Daniel froze.
“Who is this?”
“You should have listened to your wife.”
Daniel’s grip tightened.
“If you hurt Lily—”
“You still think Vanessa is the one you need to fear.”
Daniel stopped.
The voice continued.
“Ask Claire what happened the night your mother died.”
Daniel’s blood turned cold.
His mother’s death had been ruled an accident.
Seven years ago.
The same year Claire disappeared.
The same month.
Daniel whispered, “Who are you?”
The man laughed softly.
Then Daniel heard Lily crying in the background.
“Daddy!”
“LILY!”
The call ended.
Daniel stared at his phone.
Then a text arrived.
ONE PHOTO.
Lily sitting in the back seat of a vehicle.
Beside her—
Vanessa.
May you like
But Vanessa wasn’t holding Lily.
She was tied up too.
