Chapter 4 - The Door That Should Have Been Locked
That afternoon, Dominic moved Leo into a secure room.
The room had reinforced doors.
Bulletproof glass.
Two guards outside.
And no windows.
Leo hated it.
“I don't want to stay here.”
“I know.”
“Bea stays too.”
Dominic looked at me.
“She stays.”
I entered.
Leo climbed onto the bed.
I sat beside him.
Dominic remained outside.
For some reason, I kept watching him through the glass.
He was talking to his guards.
His posture was rigid.
His face cold.
But every few seconds, his eyes returned to Leo.
Then to me.
I wondered when he'd started doing that.
When had he stopped seeing me as simply the nanny?
Maybe it had happened that night in the kitchen.
Maybe it had happened earlier.
Maybe I had simply been too busy trying to disappear to notice.
That evening, Leo finally fell asleep.
I stepped into the hallway.
Dominic was waiting.
“You should rest.”
“You say that a lot.”
“You don't listen.”
“Neither do you.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
“Stay here.”
He walked away.
I watched him disappear around the corner.
Then I heard a metallic sound.
Click.
I turned.
The emergency corridor door was open.
It shouldn't have been.
That door had been locked.
Always.
I approached slowly.
Inside was darkness.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
I stepped through.
The corridor smelled like dust and metal.
At the end stood a second door.
I remembered Dominic's instructions.
If danger comes, take Leo and run.
But curiosity had already pulled me forward.
I opened the second door.
Inside was a small storage room.
Boxes.
Old documents.
A broken chair.
And a photograph.
I picked it up.
It was Dominic and Leo's mother again.
But this time there was another person in the photograph.
A young man.
I recognized him.
Calvin.
My pulse raced.
On the back was a date.
Six years ago.
And beneath it:
THE NIGHT THE BABY DISAPPEARED.
I dropped the photograph.
A sound came from behind me.
The door closed.
I spun around.
Someone was standing outside the glass.
I couldn't see the face.
Only the silhouette.
“Who's there?”
The figure raised one hand.
The silver ring caught the light.
Calvin's ring.
I backed away.
The door handle moved.
I grabbed the nearest metal object.
“Don't come in.”
The handle stopped.
Then a man's voice whispered:
“You should have listened to Dominic.”
I froze.
The voice wasn't Calvin's.
It was someone else.
Someone I knew.
The lights suddenly went out.
May you like
I heard the lock release.
And then the door began to open from the other side...
