Chapter 2
The voice belonged to my father-in-law, Preston Hale.
I knew it before I saw him.
He had spent five years calling me son while reminding me that his connections had helped my company grow. He smiled through every family dinner. He brought Lily expensive toys she never asked for.
Now his voice came from the dark passage where a little girl had been hiding.
I pulled both children behind me.
“Don’t come closer.”
Preston appeared at the bend in the passage, one hand braced against the wall. His suit jacket was gone. Dirt covered the knees of his trousers.
His eyes passed over me and settled on the child.
“There you are, June.”
June pressed her face into my side.
Vanessa rose unsteadily.
“Dad, you said you’d wait.”
My mother stepped between Preston and the opening.
“There’s a door behind the garage,” she told me. “It leads outside. Go through the kitchen.”
Preston gave her a thin smile.
“Ruth, you always did enjoy making a scene.”
My mother did not move.
I carried Lily in one arm and kept hold of June’s hand. Vanessa started toward us. June recoiled so sharply that I stopped.
“Stay back,” I said.
Vanessa looked at Lily.
“Ryan, she’s my daughter.”
“And who is June?”
She opened her mouth, but no answer came.
Preston answered for her.
“She’s Anna’s child. This is a complicated family matter.”
Anna.
I hadn’t heard that name spoken in my house in years.
Six years earlier, Anna Mercer and I had planned a life together. Then she left after a terrible argument I still couldn’t fully explain. Her messages said she wanted nothing more to do with me.
Vanessa had been my friend then. She had helped me through it.
I looked down at June’s frightened face.
“How old are you?”
“Six,” she whispered.
My mother caught my eye. She didn’t need to say anything.
The dates fit.
Preston stepped forward.
“Ryan, let’s talk without frightening the children.”
June’s fingers tightened around mine.
“You already frightened her,” I said.
I took the girls down the hall. My mother followed, keeping herself between us and Preston. Vanessa came after her, saying my name again and again.
At the front door, I reached for my keys.
They weren’t in my pocket.
I had left them in the kitchen.
My mother opened her bag and handed me hers.
“Drive my car.”
I had barely turned the lock when Preston called from behind us.
“If you take her out of this house, Anna pays for what she did.”
June stopped walking.
“Mommy’s alive?”
The hallway went silent.
I dropped to one knee.
“June, where is your mother?”
She swallowed.
“Grandpa said she was sick. He said I couldn’t see her until she said sorry.”
I looked up at Preston.
His expression hardened for one brief second. Then he reached into his pocket.
I thought he was going for a weapon. I moved Lily behind me.
He held up a phone.
“I’m calling the police,” he said. “You’ve been told this child isn’t yours.”
“Call them,” my mother replied. “Tell them where you kept her.”
We got out the door before he could answer.
I buckled Lily into my mother’s back seat. June stood on the driveway, staring at the open sky as though she had forgotten what it looked like.
I helped her into the car.
Vanessa came onto the porch.
“Lily, sweetheart, come to Mommy.”
Lily gripped the strap across her chest.
“You told me June would get in trouble if I told Daddy.”
Vanessa’s face crumpled.
I shut the car door.
My mother drove. I called emergency services from the passenger seat and told the dispatcher there was a child who had been confined inside my home. I gave our address, the names of everyone involved, and everything June had said about Anna.
I wanted to turn back and demand answers.
Instead, I watched the girls in the mirror. Lily had reached across the seat to hold June’s hand.
At the hospital, a nurse brought blankets and food. June ate slowly, watching every adult who entered the room. Lily refused to leave her side.
My mother stood with me outside while a doctor examined them.
“How did you know about the passage?” I asked.
“Your father built the access doors when he restored the house. When Anna called me this morning, I remembered them.”
“Anna called you?”
My mother nodded.
“She said her daughter was missing. She believed Preston had taken June to your house.”
“Why didn’t she call me?”
“She tried. The call didn’t reach you.”
My phone was in my hand. I searched my recent calls.
There was nothing from Anna.
Then I opened my blocked contacts.
Her number was there.
I stared at it until the letters blurred.
A police detective approached us. Her name was Ortiz. She said officers had reached the house. Vanessa and Preston were there, but Anna had not been found.
“Preston claims June was staying with family by agreement,” she said. “We’re checking that.”
“She was inside a wall.”
“I know.”
My mother’s phone rang.
An unknown number.
She answered and put it on speaker.
For a moment, all I heard was breathing.
Then Anna whispered, “Ruth? Did you get her?”
“She’s safe,” my mother said.
May you like
Anna began to cry.
A man spoke in the background. Anna gasped, and the call ended.
