Chapter 3 - The Secret Hidden Inside the Playroom
The door to Lily’s playroom slammed open.
Dominic reached it first.
I followed behind him, my heart pounding so hard I could barely hear anything else.
The security alarm continued screaming through the mansion.
Red lights flashed across the hallway.
Two guards stood outside the room, weapons drawn, staring inside.
But nobody was there.
Nobody except my daughter’s toys scattered across the floor.
“Clear the room.”
Dominic’s voice was cold.
The guards immediately moved.
I stepped forward.
“Where is Lily?”
Then I remembered.
She was still downstairs with one of the security women.
Safe.
At least I hoped she was.
Dominic entered the room slowly.
He didn’t move like a man searching for an intruder.
He moved like someone entering a place where he expected to find a ghost.
The playroom looked exactly as it always had.
Small furniture.
Colorful books.
Stuffed animals.
A tiny table where Lily drew pictures.
Except something was different.
The window was open.
I stopped breathing.
“That window…”
Dominic looked at it.
“Was it locked?”
I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Always?”
“Yes.”
His eyes moved around the room.
Then he noticed something on the floor.
A small wooden box.
Lily’s drawing box.
It was open.
I walked closer.
Inside were crayons.
Paper.
And a small stuffed rabbit.
But Dominic wasn’t looking at those.
He was looking at the drawing on top.
The same drawing Lily had shown him downstairs.
Except this one was different.
My hands went cold.
Because I knew that drawing.
I had seen it before.
But I had never looked closely enough.
Dominic picked it up.
“Who drew this?”
I swallowed.
“Lily.”
He studied the paper.
The drawing showed me.
Lily.
A tall man.
And the black figure behind us.
But now I saw something I had missed.
There was a small house drawn in the corner.
And beside it…
A number.
“27.”
Dominic noticed it too.
“What does this mean?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
But I did.
At least part of me did.
Because that number had been appearing everywhere.
On pieces of paper.
On Lily’s drawings.
Even once scratched into the dust on our apartment window.
I had always assumed she was copying something.
I had never thought it meant anything.
Dominic turned toward me.
“You’ve seen this before.”
It wasn’t a question.
I looked away.
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
His voice sharpened.
I hated that he could see through me so easily.
“I didn’t want to make things worse.”
His expression changed.
“How long?”
I stayed silent.
“Elena.”
The way he said my name made me look at him.
“Tell me.”
I took a breath.
“Three weeks.”
The room went quiet.
“For three weeks,” I continued, “someone has been watching us.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“And you didn’t tell anyone?”
“Who would I tell?”
The words came out before I could stop them.
“I’m a maid. I’m a single mother. Nobody would believe me.”
His expression softened slightly.
But only slightly.
“I would have.”
I looked at him.
And that hurt more than I expected.
Because I wanted to believe him.
I really did.
But trust was something I had learned not to give easily.
Not after Lily’s father disappeared.
Not after everyone who promised to help eventually walked away.
A guard entered the room.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Dominic turned.
“We found something.”
The guard held a small plastic bag.
Inside was a piece of black fabric.
I recognized it immediately.
My stomach twisted.
“That was in the window?”
The guard nodded.
“Yes.”
Dominic took the bag.
His face became unreadable.
Then he asked:
“Was there anyone outside?”
The guard hesitated.
“No.”
“Nothing?”
“No.”
Dominic looked at the fabric.
Then at the open window.
“That’s impossible.”
I looked at him.
“Why?”
“Because whoever entered this room didn’t leave through the window.”
A chill ran through me.
“What do you mean?”
He pointed toward the floor.
“Look.”
I followed his finger.
There were footprints.
Small marks in the dust.
They started near the window.
Then continued across the room.
Toward Lily’s drawing table.
I covered my mouth.
The person hadn’t just entered.
They had walked around.
They had touched things.
They had been standing exactly where my daughter played.
Dominic followed the footprints.
Then stopped.
The final footprint ended beside Lily’s chair.
On the table was a new drawing.
One I had never seen before.
Dominic picked it up.
My heart sank.
Because this time, the picture wasn’t about the stranger.
It was about me.
The drawing showed Lily and me standing outside our apartment.
A man stood behind us.
But above our heads, Lily had drawn something else.
A red X.
Dominic stared at it.
“What does this mean?”
I couldn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know.
But Lily did.
And that terrified me.
Twenty minutes later, Lily was brought upstairs.
The moment she saw me, she ran into my arms.
“Mommy!”
I held her tightly.
I didn’t care who was watching.
I didn’t care that Dominic Moretti was standing nearby.
For that moment, I was just a mother holding her child.
“You scared me,” I whispered.
“I’m sorry.”
I pulled back.
“Lily, honey, why did you draw this?”
I showed her the picture.
Her face changed.
The happiness disappeared.
She looked at Dominic.
Then at me.
“He told me not to.”
My blood froze.
“Who told you?”
She pointed toward the drawing.
“The man.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“What man?”
Lily squeezed my hand.
“The man who knows Mommy.”
Silence.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Lily looked confused.
“He said Mommy forgot.”
My breathing stopped.
“Forgot what?”
She didn’t answer.
Instead, she reached into her little yellow dress pocket.
And pulled out something.
A folded piece of paper.
My eyes widened.
“Where did you get that?”
Lily looked down.
“He gave it to me.”
Dominic moved immediately.
“Do not open it.”
His voice was sharp.
Everyone froze.
He looked at the paper.
Then at Lily.
“Who gave you that?”
“The man.”
“When?”
She thought.
“Yesterday.”
My hands started shaking.
Yesterday.
While I was working.
While I thought she was safe.
Dominic carefully took the paper using a tissue.
He unfolded it.
Inside was only one sentence.
A sentence written in black ink.
I watched his expression change.
“What does it say?” I asked.
He didn’t answer.
“Dominic.”
Slowly, he turned the paper around.
I read the words.
And everything inside me stopped.
BEFORE YOU TRUST HIM, ASK HIM ABOUT THE NIGHT YOUR DAUGHTER WAS BORN.
I looked at Dominic.
He looked away.
Just for one second.
But I saw it.
Recognition.
Pain.
Fear.
“You know something,” I whispered.
He didn’t respond.
“You know what this means.”
“Elena…”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“You don’t get to protect me by hiding things from me.”
The room became silent.
Dominic looked at Lily.
Then at the note.
Then finally at me.
“There are things about your past that you don’t know.”
I felt my heart drop.
“What things?”
Before he could answer, every screen in the mansion suddenly turned black.
The lights flickered.
The security system went offline.
Then a message appeared across every monitor.
One sentence.
Written in white letters.
Dominic stared at it.
And whispered:
“He’s here.”
The front door security camera activated by itself.
A figure stood outside the mansion.
Waiting.
Dominic walked toward the screen.
His face turned completely pale.
Because the person standing at the gate was not a stranger.
May you like
It was someone he had buried years ago.
And then the man lifted his head toward the camera and said Dominic’s name.
