Chapter 2 - The Woman Behind the WallVictor stood frozen.
Lily stared at him.
Neither spoke.
The hidden panel had opened only a few inches, revealing a narrow passage behind it.
Dark.
Cold.
And completely unexpected.
Victor pushed it wider.
A draft rushed into the room.
Ethan, waiting outside with the security guard, began crying again.
Victor immediately closed the panel.
“Take Ethan downstairs,” he ordered the guard.
“I’m not leaving Ethan,” Lily said.
Victor looked at her.
“You heard the voice.”
“I heard something.”
“That voice was my wife.”
Lily’s face tightened.
“Your wife died six years ago.”
“I know.”
“That means someone recorded her.”
Victor didn’t answer.
Because deep inside, he knew that wasn’t what he had heard.
He knew his wife’s voice better than anyone.
He had buried her.
He had watched the coffin disappear beneath the earth.
Yet he had heard her whisper his name.
Victor returned to the passage.
Lily followed.
“You said not to trust the maid,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“And yet you’re still letting me come.”
Victor looked over his shoulder.
“I haven’t decided whether that was a mistake.”
They entered.
The passage led beneath the mansion.
After several minutes, they reached a steel door.
Victor found a keypad.
He entered his birthday.
Nothing.
He entered Ethan’s birthday.
The lock clicked.
Lily looked at him.
“That’s disturbing.”
Victor pushed the door open.
Inside was a control room.
Monitors covered the walls.
Security feeds.
Financial records.
Employee files.
Private phone conversations.
Everything.
Lily stared at the screens.
“This entire house has been watched.”
Victor moved toward the central monitor.
There was one folder labeled:
PROJECT EVE
Victor opened it.
A video appeared.
His wife, Evelyn, sat in front of the camera.
She looked tired.
Afraid.
And alive.
Victor stopped breathing.
“Evelyn…”
The recording began.
“If Victor is watching this, then something has gone wrong.”
Victor gripped the edge of the desk.
Evelyn continued.
“You will think I died because of the accident.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Lily watched the screen.
Evelyn lowered her voice.
“The accident was staged.”
Victor’s eyes widened.
“I was murdered.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Evelyn looked directly into the camera.
“Your father knew. Serena knows. And there is one more person in this house you must never trust.”
The video glitched.
Then resumed.
Evelyn whispered:
“Lily.”
Lily stepped backward.
Victor turned.
“No.”
The recording continued.
“She is not what she appears to be.”
Lily’s eyes filled with shock.
“I didn’t know.”
Victor stared at her.
“Then who are you?”
“I swear I don’t know what she’s talking about.”
The lights flickered.
A monitor suddenly switched on.
A live camera showed Ethan’s bedroom.
Someone was standing beside his bed.
A hooded figure.
Victor ran.
Lily followed.
They reached the bedroom.
The window was open.
Curtains blowing in the wind.
Ethan was gone.
Victor’s face became terrifyingly calm.
“Lock the mansion.”
Security alarms screamed.
Doors slammed shut throughout the estate.
Then Victor heard something.
A child crying.
Coming from the garden.
He ran outside.
Ethan was standing near the fountain.
Serena held him.
But she wasn’t alone.
A man stood behind her.
Victor stopped.
The man slowly removed his hood.
Victor recognized him.
It was his father.
The man everyone believed had died twelve years ago.
He smiled.
“Hello, son.”
Lily covered her mouth.
Victor could barely speak.
“You’re dead.”
His father laughed.
“I was.”
May you like
Then Serena pulled Ethan closer.
“And now,” she said, “it’s your turn to disappear.”
