Chapter 3 - THE SECRET VANESSA BURIED
“Vanessa!”
Daniel grabbed the metal door and pulled.
Nothing.
Locked again.
The hidden room became completely dark.
Lily started crying.
“Dad…”
“I’m here.”
Daniel immediately wrapped his arms around her.
“Don’t be scared.”
But he was scared too.
Because for the first time, he understood something.
This was not an accident.
Someone had planned this.
Someone had built a secret room inside his house.
Someone had hidden evidence.
And someone didn’t want him finding it.
“Vanessa!”
No answer.
Daniel pulled out his phone.
No signal.
Of course.
The hidden room was built like a bunker.
“Why would someone build this?” Daniel whispered.
Then Lily pointed.
“Dad…”
Her small finger moved toward the wall.
“There.”
Daniel turned.
A small red light was blinking.
A camera.
His entire body went cold.
Someone had been watching this room.
Watching Lily.
Watching him.
Daniel grabbed a metal chair and smashed the camera.
The glass shattered.
Then another sound came.
A soft movement from deeper inside the passage.
Daniel froze.
“Did you hear that?”
Lily nodded.
“There’s someone else.”
Daniel grabbed her hand.
“No matter what happens, you stay behind me.”
He moved slowly forward.
The passage continued deeper than he expected.
At the end was another door.
This one was wooden.
Old.
Covered with scratches.
Daniel opened it.
Inside was a small room.
And sitting in the corner…
Was a woman.
Alive.
Weak.
Terrified.
Daniel dropped the flashlight.
Because he knew her.
“Emma?”
The woman looked up.
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Daniel…”
He stepped back.
Emma was Sarah’s younger sister.
The woman who disappeared one year after Sarah’s death.
Everyone thought she had left town.
But she had been here.
Hidden.
Locked away.
“What happened to you?”
Emma looked toward the door.
Then whispered:
“She did this.”
Daniel’s face changed.
“Who?”
Emma’s eyes moved past him.
Toward Vanessa.
Who was standing at the entrance.
Holding a phone.
And smiling.
“I was hoping you would never find this room.”
Daniel stepped in front of Lily.
“Vanessa…”
She slowly walked closer.
“You have no idea what you just uncovered.”
Emma started shaking.
“Daniel, don’t trust her.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Still trying to play the victim?”
Daniel looked between them.
His mind was racing.
Two stories.
Two people.
One impossible secret.
Then Vanessa raised her phone.
On the screen was a video.
A video of Daniel.
From two years ago.
The night Sarah died.
Daniel stared at it.
“How did you get that?”
Vanessa’s smile disappeared.
“Because your wife’s death wasn’t what you were told.”
The room went silent.
Lily held Daniel’s hand tighter.
And then Vanessa said the words that changed everything.
“Sarah wasn’t running away from an accident.”
She looked directly at Daniel.
“She was running from a secret your family buried.”
Daniel felt the floor disappear beneath him.
Because suddenly, the question was no longer:
What was Vanessa hiding?
The real question was:
May you like
What had Daniel unknowingly been hiding all along?
TO BE CONTINUED...
