Chapter 1 - The Voice Behind the Wall

The first swing of the sledgehammer cracked the marble panel hard enough to make the chandelier tremble.

Arthur Vale came running into the east hall in socks, his tie hanging loose around his neck. He froze when he saw Elena Cruz, the housemaid he had hired six months earlier, raising the hammer again.

“Have you lost your mind?” he shouted. “What are you doing with that thing?”

Elena did not look at him. Her face was white, her hands shaking, but her grip stayed tight. “Your son is trapped inside this wall.”

Arthur stared at her. For one second, the mansion went silent.

Then Victoria appeared at the top of the staircase.

“That’s enough,” she said. Her voice was calm in a way that made Elena’s stomach turn. “Put the hammer down.”

Arthur gave a short, disbelieving laugh. “Elena, Leo is at my sister’s house. Victoria told me—”

A muffled sound came from behind the cracked panel.

“Dad?”

Arthur’s face emptied.

“Dad, please help me!”

The hammer slipped in Elena’s hands.

“Leo?” Arthur whispered.

“Dad!”

Arthur lunged toward the wall. “Oh my God. I hear him.” He turned on Victoria so fast she stepped backward. “What is this?”

Victoria’s calm expression finally broke. “Arthur, don’t listen to her. We need to call someone. The wall could collapse.”

Elena lifted the hammer again. “Then get back.”

“Stop her!” Victoria screamed.

Arthur did not move.

Elena swung.

Plaster burst across the polished floor. A dark cavity opened between the studs. From inside came a child’s choking cough.

“Again,” Arthur said.

Elena struck twice more. Arthur tore at the broken drywall with his bare hands until his fingers bled. Then he saw a small eye through the opening.

Leo.

His eight-year-old son was curled in a narrow space between two walls, wrapped in a gray blanket, his wrists bruised, his face streaked with tears.

Arthur made a sound Elena would remember for the rest of her life.

He ripped the opening wider and pulled Leo into his arms.

Leo clung to him and whispered, “Dad, don’t let her touch me again.”

Arthur slowly looked up.

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Victoria was gone.

Then, from somewhere upstairs, a door slammed.