Chapter 3 - The Voice From The Forgotten Room
The phone kept ringing.
Nobody moved.
Nathaniel stared at the screen.
The name glowing on his phone belonged to a woman who had been buried for two years.
Eleanor Reed.
His late wife.
The woman whose voice had just spoken from an old recording.
The woman who somehow knew my daughter's name.
The woman who had left secrets behind in a locked ballroom.
I watched Nathaniel's hand tighten around the phone.
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
Not confused.
Not angry.
Terrified.
"Mr. Reed..."
My voice came out quietly.
He didn't answer.
The phone continued vibrating.
One ring.
Two rings.
Three.
Then Nathaniel finally pressed the answer button.
"Eleanor?"
His voice broke on the name.
The ballroom went silent.
We all waited.
But there was no response.
Only static.
A low, distorted sound.
Then a woman's voice whispered.
"Nathaniel..."
He froze.
I felt the air leave my lungs.
Because I knew that voice.
Not because I had heard it often.
But because it had appeared in the recordings.
It was Eleanor.
"I know you're listening," the voice continued.
Nathaniel stepped back.
His face turned pale.
"Who is this?"
No answer.
Then the voice said something that made my blood run cold.
"Don't trust the person standing beside you."
Everyone looked at each other.
Nathaniel slowly turned.
His eyes landed on me.
My heart dropped.
I took a step back.
"Mr. Reed, I swear—"
The call ended.
Silence.
A terrible, heavy silence.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Nathaniel looked away.
Not because he believed me.
Because he didn't know what to believe.
Marcus returned to the ballroom.
He immediately noticed something had changed.
"What happened?"
Nathaniel didn't answer.
He handed him the phone.
Marcus looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
"You got a call from..."
He stopped himself.
But everyone understood.
"Eleanor," Nathaniel said.
Marcus looked disturbed.
"That's impossible."
Nathaniel laughed once.
A cold, empty sound.
"Is it?"
Nobody answered.
Because tonight, impossible had become normal.
A dead woman had left a message.
A child had repeated memories she shouldn't have had.
A locked room had opened.
And somehow, I was standing at the center of it all.
Nathaniel looked at the recorder again.
"The video."
He picked it up.
The file list was still there.
MIA_FINAL_MESSAGE.
His finger hovered over it.
Then he pressed play.
The screen went dark.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then Eleanor appeared.
This time, she looked different.
Not like the happy woman from the previous recordings.
She looked serious.
Afraid.
She was sitting in the same ballroom.
The camera angle was different.
Like someone had secretly recorded her.
"Eleanor..." Nathaniel whispered.
She looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this, then something happened."
Nathaniel moved closer.
"I don't have much time."
Her voice shook.
That was the first time I had ever heard Eleanor sound afraid.
"I need you to listen carefully."
She looked down.
Then she said my name.
"Mia."
I felt my body freeze.
The video continued.
"I am sorry that you were dragged into this."
Nathaniel looked at me.
I couldn't look back.
Because I had no idea what she meant.
Eleanor continued.
"When I hired you, I knew people would question why."
My breathing became shallow.
"I knew Nathaniel would think it was a coincidence."
A pause.
Then she looked directly at the camera.
"But it wasn't."
Nathaniel's expression changed.
"What is she talking about?"
I shook my head.
"I don't know."
The video continued.
"Mia, you need to remember the night you came to this house."
My stomach tightened.
Three years ago.
The night everything changed.
I remembered arriving at the Reed estate with a suitcase, a newborn baby, and nowhere else to go.
Eleanor had opened the door herself.
She had looked at Lily.
Then at me.
And she had cried.
At the time, I thought it was because she felt sorry for me.
But now...
I wasn't sure.
Eleanor continued.
"You believed you came here because you needed a job."
She paused.
"But the truth is..."
The screen suddenly glitched.
The audio broke.
Then returned.
"...I needed you here."
Nathaniel stepped closer.
"What truth?"
The recording continued.
"There was something Nathaniel never knew about Oliver's birth."
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
The room changed.
Completely.
Oliver.
His son.
His only child.
His greatest reason to keep going after losing Eleanor.
"What does that mean?" Nathaniel whispered.
Eleanor looked away from the camera.
"Someone tried to take my son from me."
My hand immediately went to Lily.
The little girl looked up at me.
Confused.
Scared.
Eleanor continued.
"And the only person who could expose them was the person nobody would suspect."
The video froze.
Then restarted.
But the image was damaged.
A shadow appeared behind Eleanor.
Someone was standing near the door.
Nathaniel noticed it too.
"Who is that?"
Nobody answered.
The shadow moved.
Eleanor looked toward it.
Her expression changed.
Fear.
Pure fear.
Then the recording ended.
The screen went black.
No explanation.
No name.
Nothing.
Nathaniel stared at the blank screen.
"Play it again."
Marcus tried.
Nothing.
The file disappeared.
Gone.
Like it had never existed.
Nathaniel looked furious now.
Not at me.
At the entire situation.
"Find out who accessed this system."
Marcus nodded.
"Immediately."
He walked away.
I stood there silently.
Until Nathaniel spoke.
"Mia."
I looked up.
"What?"
He studied me.
"Why did Eleanor know your daughter before she hired you?"
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because I had asked myself the same question.
For years, I had avoided thinking about certain things.
Small details.
Moments that didn't make sense.
The way Eleanor had stared at Lily the first time she saw her.
The way she had held my daughter's hand.
The way she had whispered:
"Finally."
At the time, I thought she meant finally someone needed her.
Now I wondered if she meant something else.
"I don't know," I said.
Nathaniel looked at Lily.
Then Oliver.
The children were sitting beside the piano.
Quiet.
Watching adults search for answers they couldn't find.
Then Lily spoke.
"Mommy?"
I turned.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
She pointed toward the piano.
"She told me there was another place."
Nathaniel immediately looked at her.
"What place?"
Lily pointed at the wall behind the piano.
"The place she hid the truth."
My heart stopped.
Nathaniel walked toward the piano.
He pushed gently.
Nothing happened.
He checked the wall.
Nothing.
Then Lily walked closer.
She touched a small carving near the bottom edge.
A tiny flower symbol.
The same symbol Eleanor always wore on her necklace.
A click sounded.
The wall moved.
Slowly.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside was a small wooden box.
Nathaniel reached inside.
His hands shook.
There was a letter.
An envelope.
And a photograph.
He picked up the photograph first.
The color drained from his face.
Because it showed Eleanor holding baby Oliver.
Standing beside her...
Was me.
But I wasn't holding Lily.
I was holding a hospital bracelet.
Nathaniel flipped the photograph over.
On the back was a date.
A date from three years ago.
The night Oliver was born.
Then he saw the writing beneath it.
Five words.
May you like
Five words that made him stop breathing.
"Oliver is not your son."
