Chapter 2 - The Key Opens The Storage Door
Daniel stood slowly.
The metallic bang came again.
Not loud.
But deliberate.
Three knocks.
Pause.
Then two more.
Vanessa moved first.
“Daniel, don’t.”
That was enough.
He took Lily’s hand and walked toward the hallway.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
He pulled free.
“Stay away from us.”
The brass key fit a narrow lock beside the old storage room near the back staircase.
Daniel had lived in the mansion six years.
He had never seen that door locked.
The key turned.
He opened it.
A woman was sitting on the concrete floor with both wrists bruised and one ankle scraped raw.
Her hair was tangled.
Her face was pale.
But Daniel knew her immediately.
Rachel.
Lily’s mother.
His first wife.
The woman everyone had been told left the country eight months earlier.
Lily screamed:
“Mommy!”
Rachel looked up.
Then she saw Daniel.
Her expression was not relief.
May you like
It was anger.
“You finally opened the right door.”
