Chapter 2 - LUCY HAD SEEN SOMEONE THERE BEFORE
Daniel did not tear open the wall.
Every instinct in him wanted to cross the room and find out what was behind it, but Ethan’s reddened cheek and Lucy’s shaking hands mattered first.
“Everyone out of the gallery.”
Vanessa started toward the damaged panel.
Daniel stepped in front of her.
“Not you.”
Her eyes flashed. “Daniel, this is ridiculous.”
“My son has a mark on his face.”
“He was screaming at me.”
“He’s thirteen.”
“He threatened me.”
“He told you not to touch his seven-year-old sister.”
Vanessa opened her mouth.
Daniel did not let her redirect the conversation.
“Go to the west sitting room. Now.”
“This is my house too.”
Daniel’s expression went cold.
“It is our marital residence. That does not give you permission to put your hands on my children or interfere with whatever is inside that wall.”
That distinction mattered.
Daniel owned the estate through a family trust created years before his marriage to Vanessa. She lived there as his wife, but she did not own the trust property simply because she called it her house.
Vanessa looked toward the wall again.
That glance told Daniel more than any argument could have.
She knew something.
He took Ethan and Lucy upstairs.
Claire, the children’s longtime nanny, was away visiting family, so Daniel stayed with them himself. He cleaned Ethan’s cheek with a cool cloth and called their pediatrician. The physician recommended observation and an in-person evaluation if Ethan developed dizziness, headache, swelling, or other symptoms.
Ethan insisted he felt fine.
Daniel photographed the redness anyway.
Then he sat across from both children.
“I’m going to ask some questions. Nobody is in trouble.”
Lucy climbed closer to Ethan.
Daniel looked at her.
“Why did you point at the wall?”
Lucy’s answer came immediately.
“Because the lady went there.”
Daniel went still.
“What lady?”
“The blonde lady.”
Ethan turned toward his sister.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Daniel kept his voice calm.
“Was she inside the wall?”
Lucy shook her head quickly.
“No.”
Relief came first.
Then more questions.
“Where was she?”
“In the gallery.”
“With Vanessa?”
Lucy nodded.
“What were they doing?”
Lucy struggled to explain.
“She had a big flat thing.”
“How big?”
Lucy held her hands apart.
“Like a picture.”
That got Daniel’s attention.
“Was it a painting?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“Vanessa opened the wall.”
Daniel stared at her.
“She opened it?”
Lucy nodded again.
“The lady put the flat thing there. Then they got mad.”
“At each other?”
“Yes.”
“What happened next?”
“The lady tried to take it back.”
Ethan leaned forward.
“Did Vanessa stop her?”
Lucy nodded.
“She pushed the soft wall closed.”
Daniel asked, “Did the blonde lady get hurt?”
Lucy thought.
“No. She yelled because her hair got stuck.”
There it was.
The hair.
Not someone trapped behind the wall.
Someone whose hair had been caught when the concealed panel closed.
Daniel exhaled slowly.
Ethan asked, “Why didn’t you tell us yesterday?”
Lucy looked ashamed.
“Vanessa said it was grown-up stuff.”
Then she added something that changed Daniel’s expression.
“She said I wasn’t allowed in the gallery anymore.”
Daniel looked at Ethan.
Ethan looked back.
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For the first time, they both understood why Vanessa had become so aggressive when Ethan defended Lucy.
Lucy had seen something Vanessa desperately wanted kept secret.
