Chapter 8 - THE CHILD THEY ERASED|
Ethan's mother held the silver key so tightly that it left a mark in her palm.
"Your sister," she whispered. "Her name was Rose."
Richard laughed.
"That child died."
His wife looked at him.
"No. You told me she died."
"Because she was never supposed to exist."
Ethan felt as though the floor had shifted beneath him.
"Where is she?"
Richard looked toward Daniel.
Daniel shrugged.
"Still downstairs, I suppose."
Claire stepped forward.
"How many hidden rooms are in this house?"
Richard smiled.
"Enough to keep secrets."
Ethan took the key from his mother's hand.
"Show me."
She pointed toward a narrow panel behind the bed.
"Behind there. There's a staircase."
Marcus searched the wall and found the release. A small section slid aside, revealing stone steps descending into darkness.
Ethan went first.
The staircase led to a corridor lined with old photographs. One showed his mother holding a baby. Another showed a young girl with dark hair standing beside a birthday cake.
At the end was a locked room.
Ethan used the key.
Inside was a small bedroom.
A child's drawing hung on the wall. A stuffed rabbit sat on the bed. A faded blanket lay folded beside a window.
But nobody was there.
Claire picked up the drawing.
It showed a family of four: a father, a mother, a boy, and a girl.
The father had been crossed out in red.
Beneath the drawing, a child's handwriting read:
I don't want him to come back.
Ethan turned toward his mother.
"Where is Rose?"
She shook her head.
"Richard moved her."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Richard's voice came from the staircase.
"You're wasting your time."
Ethan raised his weapon.
"Who is she?"
"Your sister is a mistake that should have been corrected."
His mother stepped forward.
"She was a child!"
Richard's expression hardened.
"She was leverage."
Claire looked at the photographs.
"How old was she?"
"Eight," Ethan's mother whispered.
"How long ago?"
"Fourteen years."
Ethan stared at the empty bed.
His sister had lived in the same house. She had been hidden behind walls while he grew up upstairs, believing he was an only child.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Your father threatened to hurt her if I spoke."
Ethan looked at Richard.
"You used your own daughter."
Richard shrugged.
"I used what I had."
A sound came from the corridor.
A phone vibrating.
Marcus checked the device found in the child's room. It had received a new message.
Stop searching. Rose is not the only child who disappeared.
A second message appeared.
It contained a photograph of a little girl standing beside a woman.
Claire gasped.
"That's my sister."
Ethan turned.
"You have a sister?"
Claire nodded, tears forming.
"I thought she died when we were children."
She pointed to the woman in the photograph.
"That's my mother."
May you like
The picture had been taken recently.
And beside Claire's mother stood a girl wearing the same silver bracelet as the child in the hidden room.
