CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET ROOM
CHAPTER 2: THE SECRET ROOM
The engagement party ended immediately.
Guests left in stunned silence.
Vanessa spent the entire ride home insisting there was a misunderstanding.
"He's a child, Logan."
"He doesn't know what he's saying."
But Logan wasn't listening.
Because Noah had never reacted to anyone that way before.
Not ever.
That night, Logan sat beside his son's bed.
For hours.
Eventually, Noah fell asleep.
Only then did Logan leave.
And start looking for answers.
The next morning he found Marina in the staff quarters.
She looked exhausted.
As if she hadn't slept.
"Tell me everything."
Marina swallowed hard.
"I was trying to protect him."
Logan's stomach tightened.
"Protect him from who?"
She looked directly at him.
"Vanessa."
The room felt suddenly colder.
Logan laughed bitterly.
"No."
Marina didn't blink.
"She locks him in the wine cellar."
Silence.
Absolute silence.
Logan stared at her.
"What?"
"When you're gone."
Marina's voice trembled.
"I found him there twice."
Logan felt physically sick.
"No."
"I have pictures."
She pulled out her phone.
Logan looked.
And nearly dropped it.
Noah sat alone on the cellar floor.
Crying.
Surrounded by darkness.
A timestamp from three weeks earlier.
Then another.
And another.
His hands started shaking.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I tried."
Marina's eyes filled with tears.
"Every staff member who complained got fired."
Logan remembered.
Three housekeepers had quit in the last six months.
A nanny too.
Vanessa had blamed them all.
Lazy.
Dishonest.
Unprofessional.
Now a horrifying possibility emerged.
What if they weren't the problem?
What if Vanessa was?
Then Logan noticed something else.
A photo sitting on Marina's dresser.
His breath caught.
It was a picture of Marina standing beside...
His late wife.
Emily.
Logan looked up slowly.
"How do you know my wife?"
Marina's face went pale.
The secret she'd been hiding was finally exposed.
"Because..."
Her voice cracked.
"Emily was my sister."
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END OF CHAPTER 2
TO BE CONTINUED...
