Chapter 2 - THE LOCKED ROOM
Ethan left Lily in the kitchen and ran toward the stairs.
“Stay here,” he ordered. “Don’t move.”
Victoria grabbed his arm.
“You have no right to search my things.”
“This is my house.”
“You don’t trust me?”
“Not anymore.”
He pulled free and climbed the stairs.
The crash had come from the nursery.
The door was locked.
Ethan twisted the handle.
“Victoria, open this door.”
She hurried after him.
“It was probably a shelf. Nothing happened.”
“Where’s the key?”
Victoria stopped halfway up the stairs.
That pause answered him.
Ethan stepped back and slammed his shoulder into the door.
The lock cracked.
The second blow broke it open.
Inside, a wooden chair lay overturned near the crib. A music box spun on the floor, playing a slow, broken melody. The baby’s blankets had been thrown across the room.
But no one was there.
Ethan turned around.
“Where is the baby’s monitor?”
Victoria said nothing.
He looked beneath the crib and found it wedged behind a box.
The monitor was still on.
A red light blinked.
Ethan pressed the button.
At first, there was only static.
Then Lily’s voice filled the room.
“I’m sorry, baby. I’m trying.”
Ethan’s blood ran cold.
The recording continued.
Victoria’s voice followed.
“Stop crying, or I’ll tell your father you hurt him.”
Lily sobbed.
“I didn’t. I’m trying to make him stop.”
“Then carry him downstairs and clean the kitchen.”
Ethan slowly turned toward Victoria.
“What is this?”
Victoria backed away.
“You’re misunderstanding.”
The monitor played another recording.
Victoria had been forcing Lily to feed the baby, wash bottles, scrub floors, and sleep on the nursery floor whenever the baby cried.
Lily had begged her not to tell Ethan.
Victoria had threatened to send her away.
Ethan’s hands tightened into fists.
“You told my daughter I would hate her if she complained?”
“She was being difficult.”
“She’s a child!”
Victoria suddenly lunged for the monitor.
Ethan caught her wrist before she could grab it.
Downstairs, Lily screamed.
Ethan released Victoria and ran back toward the kitchen.
He found Lily standing beside the open back door.
The newborn was gone.
May you like
Victoria had taken the baby.
And the only person who knew where she had gone was already running through the yard.
