Chapter 3 - The Voice From The Past
The lights turned on by themselves.
For a few seconds, nobody moved.
The hidden room that had been buried behind the wall for years suddenly became bright, revealing every secret it had been protecting.
Old documents.
Family photographs.
Locked boxes.
And three people standing in the middle of it, trying to understand what they had just discovered.
I looked at Dominic.
He was still holding the phone against his ear.
The woman's voice was gone.
But the call was still connected.
"Dominic?"
His mother's name was still displayed on the screen.
A dead woman had called him.
And somehow, she knew we were inside the hidden room.
The bodyguard stepped closer.
"Boss, hang up."
Dominic didn't move.
His eyes were fixed on the phone.
Then the voice returned.
Quiet.
Almost like a whisper.
"Don't let them hear this."
Dominic's face changed.
"Who is this?"
No answer.
Only a small sound.
Like someone crying.
Then the call ended.
The silence afterward felt heavier than before.
I watched Dominic slowly lower the phone.
For the first time since I met him, he looked lost.
Not angry.
Not powerful.
Just lost.
"That was my mother," he said.
I didn't know what to say.
Because there was no logical explanation.
A person who disappeared eight years ago had just called him.
And she knew exactly where we were.
The bodyguard looked around the room.
"We need to leave."
Dominic turned.
"No."
"Boss—"
"No."
His voice became stronger.
"We spent years believing a lie. I'm not walking away now."
He looked at the files on the shelves.
Then at the photograph of his mother.
"I need answers."
I understood that feeling.
Because I needed them too.
Three weeks ago, I thought I was accepting a simple housekeeping job.
Now I was standing inside a hidden room connected to a family secret.
And somehow, my name was part of it.
I looked at the envelope again.
The message kept bothering me.
"If you found this room, it means Clara changed the house the way I hoped someone would."
Someone expected me.
Someone knew I would move that portrait.
"Dominic."
He looked at me.
"Why did that message mention me?"
His expression became serious.
"I don't know."
"But someone does."
He didn't answer.
That silence told me enough.
Dominic walked toward the desk again and opened another drawer.
Inside were several old photographs.
He picked up one.
It showed his mother standing outside the mansion.
But she wasn't alone.
There was another woman beside her.
Older.
Wearing the same necklace his mother had in the family portrait.
"Who is she?"
Dominic looked closer.
"I don't know."
The woman in the photograph had her face partially hidden.
But there was something written on the back.
A date.
And a name.
Dominic turned it over.
His breathing stopped.
"What?"
He handed it to me.
On the back were three words.
"Protect Clara Bennett."
My hands went cold.
My name.
Again.
"Why does your mother's photograph have my name on it?"
Dominic stared at the picture.
"I was hoping you could tell me."
A sound came from outside the room.
A door closing.
The bodyguard immediately turned around.
"Someone is here."
The three of us froze.
The hidden room had only one entrance.
The one behind the wall.
And nobody had opened it.
The bodyguard moved toward the doorway.
Dominic stopped him.
"Wait."
He looked at me.
"Did you tell anyone you were coming here?"
I shook my head.
"No."
"Did anyone know you were working tonight?"
I hesitated.
Then remembered.
The messages.
The person who hired me.
The person who gave me instructions.
A cold feeling spread through my chest.
"I received a message before I arrived."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"What message?"
I took out my phone.
There was a new notification.
A message had just arrived.
From the same number.
The number that belonged to his dead mother.
Dominic grabbed the phone.
The message was only one sentence.
"He's inside the house."
Nobody spoke.
Because we all understood the same thing.
The person who sent it wasn't warning us about someone entering.
They were telling us someone was already here.
Dominic looked toward the hidden doorway.
The bodyguard raised his weapon.
I stepped backward.
Then we heard footsteps.
Slow.
Careful.
Coming from the mansion.
Someone wasn't searching for the hidden room.
Someone already knew exactly where it was.
Dominic walked toward the entrance.
His hand reached for the door handle.
The footsteps stopped.
Then a man's voice came from the other side.
"Dominic."
He froze.
May you like
Because he recognized the voice.
The door handle slowly turned from the outside.
