Chapter 6 - The Daughter They Tried to Hide
The face on the security monitor was impossible.
I stared at the screen.
The person standing behind the little girl was someone I had seen before.
Someone whose funeral I attended.
Someone whose coffin I watched disappear beneath the ground.
My older brother.
Alexander Antonov.
My blood.
My family.
The only person who knew every secret I had ever carried.
For years, everyone told me Alexander died in a private plane accident.
For years, I believed it.
I remembered the phone call.
I remembered the hospital.
I remembered signing the documents.
I remembered standing beside his grave.
But the man on the screen was alive.
And he was smiling.
“Mikhail…”
Elena’s voice was barely audible.
I turned toward her.
“You knew.”
She shook her head immediately.
“Not about this.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“I’m not.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I thought Alexander was dead too.”
That was the first time I saw something I never expected from Elena.
Fear.
Real fear.
Not the fear of someone protecting a secret.
The fear of someone realizing the nightmare had returned.
I looked back at the monitor.
The little girl in the room was crying.
She looked around six years old.
Same age Isabella had been when Elena disappeared.
My hands tightened.
“Who is she?”
Nobody answered.
Then Victor stepped forward.
“I know.”
Everyone looked at him.
I felt my anger return.
“You know everything, don’t you?”
Victor didn’t defend himself.
He just looked tired.
“She is Alexander’s daughter.”
The room went silent.
I stared at him.
“That’s impossible.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
He looked at the screen.
“That’s exactly what Alexander wanted everyone to believe.”
My mind raced.
Alexander.
A hidden daughter.
Elena’s disappearance.
The music box.
The secret payments.
Everything connected.
But there was one question I couldn’t escape.
“Why?”
Victor looked at me.
“Because Alexander wanted what you had.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Your position.”
I laughed bitterly.
“My brother wanted my business?”
Victor shook his head.
“Not your business.”
He looked toward Isabella.
“Your family.”
The words hit harder than any weapon.
I looked at my daughter.
Then back at the screen.
Another child.
Another innocent person caught in a war created by adults.
I walked toward the security controls.
“Where is that room?”
Victor hesitated.
I turned.
“Where?”
He finally answered.
“Below the east wing.”
My expression changed.
The east wing.
A part of the mansion that had been closed for years.
A place I thought was abandoned.
“Why would there be a hidden room beneath my house?”
Victor looked away.
“Because Alexander built it.”
My stomach tightened.
My own home.
My own family.
And someone had been living beneath my feet.
I grabbed my coat.
“Mikhail.”
Elena stopped me.
I looked at her.
“What?”
She stepped closer.
“Don’t go alone.”
I almost smiled.
Two years ago, I would have ignored her.
I would have walked into danger without thinking.
But now Isabella was watching me.
Waiting.
For the first time in years, I understood something Elena had always known.
A man didn’t become stronger by standing alone.
I nodded.
“Victor comes with me.”
Victor immediately moved.
Clara stayed with Isabella.
My daughter grabbed my hand before I left.
I looked down.
She was holding the music box.
“Daddy.”
I knelt.
“What?”
Her voice trembled.
“Bring her home.”
I knew who she meant.
The little girl on the screen.
Not because she knew her.
Because Isabella understood what it felt like.
Being alone.
Being hidden.
Being forgotten.
I touched her hair.
“I will.”
Then I walked away.
The hidden entrance to the east wing was behind an old painting.
A painting of my family.
My father.
My mother.
Alexander.
Me.
I stared at Alexander’s face.
The same smile.
The same eyes.
The same person I trusted.
Victor pressed a hidden button.
The wall opened.
A dark staircase appeared.
Cold air rushed upward.
I looked at Victor.
“How long?”
“Since before Elena disappeared.”
My eyes hardened.
“You knew about this place?”
“Yes.”
“And you let him use it?”
Victor looked down.
“I was trying to find proof.”
“People always say that after they fail.”
He accepted the words.
Because maybe he deserved them.
We walked down.
The deeper we went, the colder it became.
The walls changed.
Stone.
Steel.
Security cameras.
A hidden underground facility beneath my home.
At the end of the hallway was a locked door.
The same kind of door Isabella had hidden behind.
But this one was different.
Thicker.
Stronger.
Built to keep someone inside.
I reached for the handle.
Victor stopped me.
“Wait.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
His face changed.
“Because there is something you need to know.”
I waited.
“Alexander didn’t just hide his daughter here.”
The silence became unbearable.
“What else?”
Victor looked at the door.
“He hid the person who helped him.”
My hand lowered.
“Who?”
Victor didn’t answer.
Because suddenly the door unlocked itself.
The sound echoed through the hallway.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The lock opened from the inside.
Victor stepped back.
May you like
Elena whispered my name.
And then the door slowly began to move.
