Chapter 1 - THE HIDDEN DOOR
“Sir, your daughter is locked inside!”
Maya Bennett clung to the edge of the concealed metal door as Alexander Vale rushed into the kitchen.
Blood darkened the corner of her mouth.
A bruise had already begun spreading beneath her left eye.
Behind her, a broken wineglass lay in a pool of red wine that resembled blood beneath the chandelier lights.
Across the kitchen, Celeste Monroe stood perfectly still.
The blonde woman’s face had lost all color.
Alexander barely looked at her.
His attention remained fixed on the narrow opening in the wall.
A cold stone room waited beyond it.
His seven-year-old daughter was curled against the far corner, hugging a cream-colored rabbit to her chest.
Lily’s lips had begun turning blue.
Her small shoulders shook as she tried to pull air into her lungs.
“Daddy,” she whispered.
Alexander felt his heart stop.
Maya reached into her torn apron and removed a turquoise inhaler.
She dropped to her knees beside Lily.
“Slow breath, sweetheart.”
Lily tried to obey.
Maya placed the inhaler against the child’s mouth and pressed it once.
Then again.
Alexander knelt beside them.
“How long has she been in here?”
“I don’t know,” Maya said.
“I found her rabbit outside the pantry.”
Lily’s breathing slowly became less desperate.
Alexander touched her cold face.
“Who put you in here?”
The little girl looked past him.
Her frightened eyes landed on Celeste.
Celeste immediately shook her head.
“She is confused.”
Alexander turned.
Celeste stood beside the kitchen island in a white silk dress.
Her hands were trembling, although her voice remained controlled.
“I found Maya searching through the wine cabinets.”
“She attacked me when I confronted her.”
Maya struggled to stand.
“She hit me because I saw her locking the door.”
“That is a lie.”
Celeste pointed toward the broken glass.
“She drank from that bottle and became violent.”
Maya stared at her.
“I do not drink.”
Alexander looked toward the wine.
Then he looked at the swelling around Maya’s eye.
“Where is Grant?”
Grant Holloway had managed the Vale estate for eighteen years.
He controlled the staff schedules, security system and every restricted key in the house.
Only Grant possessed the iron key to the hidden room.
Celeste folded her arms.
“I have not seen him.”
Maya shook her head.
“He was here.”
Alexander looked down at Lily.
The child clutched his sleeve.
“Mr. Grant told me Mommy was waiting inside.”
Alexander’s late wife had been dead for three years.
The words turned the kitchen unbearably cold.
“Why would he say that?”
Lily’s voice became barely audible.
“He said if I found Mommy’s blue box, she could come home.”
Alexander lifted his daughter into his arms.
The cream rabbit fell from her lap.
Something metallic struck the stone floor.
A tiny brass key had been sewn inside the rabbit’s torn belly.
Celeste stared at it.
For one brief second, fear replaced every trace of innocence in her eyes.
Maya noticed.
So did Alexander.
Then the lights throughout the mansion suddenly went out.
From somewhere beneath the floor came the sound of a heavy door slamming shut.
May you like
Grant Holloway was still inside the house.
And he had just locked every exit.
