Chapter 1 - The Knocking Behind the Wall
Dominic Vale stood at the entrance to the basement while his security team searched the walls.
Four-year-old Harper clung to his hand.
Her small bare feet trembled against the cold stone floor.
“My mommy is behind there,” she whispered.
Dominic looked toward the dark wooden panels covering the far side of the wine cellar.
He had owned the Hudson Valley estate for eleven years.
He knew about the storage rooms, the tunnels used by staff, and the old storm shelter beneath the eastern garden.
He had never seen a door in that wall.
His head of security, Lucas Reed, ran a scanner over the wooden surface.
“There is an empty space behind it.”
Dominic turned toward Claire.
His fiancée stood at the bottom of the staircase wearing a cream cashmere dress.
Her face was pale, but her voice remained calm.
“This is ridiculous.”
“Mia went to visit her sister.”
Harper shook her head.
“Mommy doesn’t have a sister.”
Claire’s eyes flashed toward the child.
Only for a second.
Dominic saw it.
“Lucas,” he said.
“Open the wall.”
Claire stepped forward.
“You cannot start tearing apart the house because a frightened child imagined a noise.”
Harper pressed closer to Dominic.
“I didn’t imagine it.”
“She knocked three times.”
Dominic looked down at her.
“Show me.”
Harper released his hand.
She crossed the cellar and raised her tiny fist.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
For several seconds, nothing answered.
Claire slowly exhaled.
Then a weak sound came from behind the wall.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Dominic felt the blood leave his face.
Lucas found the hidden seam and drove a pry bar into it.
Two guards helped him pull.
A narrow door opened inward.
The smell hit first.
Dust.
Sweat.
Stale air.
Mia Carter lay curled on the concrete floor.
Her wrists were bruised.
A dried line of blood crossed her forehead.
An empty water bottle rested near her hand.
Harper screamed.
“Mommy!”
She ran into the room.
Mia opened her eyes.
Her lips were cracked.
Her voice was barely more than air.
“Harper?”
The child fell beside her.
“I waited for you.”
Mia tried to lift one arm.
Harper crawled against her chest and began sobbing.
Dominic entered the hidden room.
“How long has she been here?”
Lucas examined the lock.
“The system log says seventy-one hours.”
Dominic turned toward Claire.
She had moved back toward the stairs.
“You knew this room existed.”
“No.”
“You came downstairs with Mia three days ago.”
“She followed me.”
“Harper saw you.”
Claire’s composure cracked.
“Mia was stealing from you.”
“What did she steal?”
Claire said nothing.
Mia’s fingers closed weakly around Dominic’s sleeve.
“The ledger.”
Dominic knelt beside her.
“What ledger?”
“The one Elena hid.”
The sound of his first wife’s name froze the room.
Elena Vale had died four years earlier when her car left a mountain road during a storm.
The police called it a tragic accident.
Mia swallowed painfully.
“She knew Nathan was stealing from you.”
Dominic stared at her.
“Nathan Cross?”
Mia nodded.
Nathan was more than Dominic’s closest adviser.
He had been his best friend for seventeen years.
He had stood beside Dominic at Elena’s funeral.
He had helped raise money for the foundation created in her name.
Claire’s heel shifted against the stone.
Dominic looked toward her.
“Where is Nathan?”
“I do not know.”
Harper turned from her mother.
She reached beneath the collar of her pajama shirt.
A thin string hung around her neck.
At the end was a small black key.
“The wolf man wanted this,” she said.
Nathan wore silver cuff links shaped like wolves.
Dominic’s eyes remained on Claire.
“Lock the estate.”
Lucas touched his radio.
“All gates are closing now.”
“No calls leave this property.”
“No cars move.”
Claire’s breath caught.
Dominic stepped toward her.
May you like
“You are going to tell me why my employee was locked inside my basement.”
“And then you are going to tell me what Nathan wanted that key to open.”
