Chapter 7 - The Voice in the Hallway
Nathan’s voice traveled through the dark corridors like a warning.
“Emily.”
She stood motionless beside the nursery crib.
Rosa whispered.
“Do not answer.”
Margaret looked toward the hidden passage.
“He knows these halls better than the police.”
Emily felt her daughter kick.
Nathan called again.
“I just want to talk.”
Emily almost laughed.
The man who had tried to crush her beneath a chandelier was asking to talk.
Footsteps moved along the corridor outside.
Slow.
Measured.
Then stopped.
Nathan spoke through the nursery door.
“Mother.”
Margaret’s face drained of color.
“I know you’re in there.”
No one moved.
The knob turned.
Locked.
Nathan sighed.
“You should have left Claire’s child where she was.”
Emily stared at Margaret.
Nathan knew.
“You think hiding her fixed everything?”
His voice remained calm.
“You think I didn’t spend twenty years looking?”
Margaret stepped toward the door.
“You stay away from Emily.”
Nathan laughed softly.
“Emily was never supposed to become part of this.”
Emily called through the door.
“Then why did you marry me?”
Silence.
Rosa grabbed her arm.
Emily pulled away.
“Answer me.”
Nathan finally spoke.
“Because of your mother.”
Emily frowned.
“My mother is dead.”
“I know.”
Emily felt a chill.
Her mother, Caroline Reed, had died when Emily was sixteen.
A supposed aneurysm.
Nathan continued.
“Your mother worked for my father.”
“She helped him investigate Claire’s disappearance.”
Emily turned toward Rosa.
Rosa looked stunned.
Nathan kept talking.
“When I met you, I recognized your name.”
“You were useful.”
Emily felt something inside her break.
Their first date.
Their wedding.
The years together.
All of it suddenly looked different.
“You married me because of my mother?”
“At first.”
Emily swallowed.
“And later?”
Nathan did not answer.
Emily closed her eyes.
That silence hurt more than the truth.
Margaret whispered.
“You never loved anyone.”
Nathan struck the door with something heavy.
Margaret jumped.
“I loved what belonged to me.”
Another blow.
The wood cracked.
Rosa pulled Emily toward the hidden panel.
Nathan hit the door again.
Emily whispered.
“What was the child’s new name?”
Margaret stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because if Nathan is here, she may be the only person who can prove what he did.”
Margaret hesitated.
The door shook again.
Finally, she answered.
“Sofia.”
“Sofia what?”
The lock splintered.
Margaret turned toward the opening door.
“Sofia Martinez.”
Emily froze.
Slowly, she looked at Rosa.
The maid’s face had gone completely pale.
Emily whispered.
“Martinez?”
Rosa shook her head.
“No.”
Margaret looked at her.
“Yes.”
Rosa stumbled backward.
May you like
Margaret spoke the words that shattered everything.
“Sofia Martinez is your daughter.”
