Chapter 2
Grant’s first mistake was assuming Sofia would become emotional.
His second was assuming pregnancy had made her slow.
His third was continuing to talk.
“You’ve lost your mind.”
He sat against the overturned cart, one hand against his cheek.
Sofia handed Elsie to Tilda.
“Take her upstairs.”
Elsie grabbed Sofia’s blouse.
“No.”
Sofia crouched.
“I’m not leaving.”
“No Daddy.”
The words came quickly.
Tilda closed her eyes.
Grant sighed.
“For God’s sake.”
He looked at Elsie.
“Stop performing.”
The child recoiled again.
Sofia turned toward him.
Grant shrugged.
“She knows crying works on you.”
“She's three.”
“She knows exactly what she's doing.”
Tilda started toward the doorway.
Grant called after them.
“Tell her if she behaves, maybe she gets dinner tonight.”
Elsie froze.
Tilda froze too.
Sofia did not.
She turned slowly.
“What did you say?”
Grant rolled his shoulders.
“You heard me.”
“Do you withhold food from her?”
“She refuses meals.”
Tilda looked over.
“No.”
Grant's face sharpened.
Nobody noticed Sofia watching Tilda.
“How do you know?”
Tilda swallowed.
“Because I started leaving food in her room.”
Grant laughed.
“Of course you did.”
He looked at Sofia.
“Your housekeeper has been undermining me for months.”
Tilda stepped back into the library.
“She was hungry.”
“She was disobedient.”
“She is three.”
“She screams.”
“Because you lock her in a wall.”
Grant stood.
“Enough.”
Sofia’s bodyguards had not yet been called.
She had returned unexpectedly.
Only Tilda, Elsie and Grant were home in this part of the estate.
Grant still believed that mattered.
He walked toward Tilda.
Sofia moved between them.
“Talk to me.”
Grant stopped.
“You've been away too much.”
“What does that have to do with food?”
“A child needs structure.”
“You call starving her structure?”
His mouth twisted.
“There are children who actually starve.”
He looked toward Elsie.
“She misses one dinner and acts like somebody killed her.”
Sofia’s face remained still.
Grant continued because her silence felt like permission.
“When she behaves, she eats.”
“And when she doesn't?”
“She learns.”
“What?”
“That everything has a cost.”
Elsie began crying again.
Grant looked at her.
“Oh, stop.”
He mocked the sound.
“Mommy’s home now. You can turn it off.”
Sofia's hands tightened.
Tilda whispered:
“Mrs. Keats…”
Sofia raised one finger.
Not yet.
She wanted him comfortable enough to keep speaking.
“What gets her locked inside the compartment?”
Grant laughed.
“That ridiculous hole?”
“Answer.”
“She throws things.”
Tilda shook her head.
Grant snapped:
“Stay out of it.”
Sofia didn't look away.
“How long?”
“Five minutes.”
Elsie whispered:
“No.”
Grant glared.
Sofia saw it.
The threat before the words.
Elsie saw it too.
Her mouth closed immediately.
Sofia walked toward him.
“What did you just do?”
“Nothing.”
“You looked at her.”
“Am I forbidden from looking at my own daughter?”
Sofia crouched in front of Elsie.
“How long does Daddy put you there?”
Grant laughed.
“This is absurd.”
Elsie looked toward him.
Sofia gently turned the child’s face back.
“Look at Mommy.”
A pause.
“Long.”
“How long?”
“Until dark.”
Tilda covered her mouth.
Sofia's expression did not change.
“What does Daddy give you?”
Elsie pointed toward the compartment.
“Water.”
“Food?”
“Bowl.”
Sofia looked inside.
Plastic bowl.
Empty.
“What goes in the bowl?”
Elsie whispered:
“Crackers.”
Grant sighed dramatically.
“There. Fed.”
Tilda stared at him.
“You call crackers feeding a three-year-old?”
Grant smiled.
“You're still employed because Sofia is sentimental.”
Tilda’s face hardened.
Grant continued.
“Don't confuse that with importance.”
Sofia rose.
“What happens when she cries?”
Grant's eyes narrowed.
“Nothing.”
Elsie whispered:
“He turns the music louder.”
Sofia looked toward the library speakers.
Grant's jaw tightened.
Interesting.
Tilda whispered:
“That explains why I couldn't hear her.”
Grant turned on her.
“You weren't supposed to.”
Silence.
He realized it.
Sofia smiled faintly.
“Thank you.”
Grant's face hardened.
“For what?”
“You just admitted you were hiding her.”
He said nothing.
Sofia picked up the black security device.
Its small light still blinked.
She pressed one button.
The screen requested biometric authorization.
Her fingerprint.
Grant stared.
“Give me that.”
“No.”
“You don't understand what it is.”
Sofia almost laughed.
“It was issued to me when I was twenty-four.”
Grant went quiet.
Tilda looked between them.
“What does it do?”
Sofia answered without taking her eyes off Grant.
“It opens the private Keats security network.”
Grant scoffed.
“Old technology.”
“It controls emergency camera overrides.”
His face changed slightly.
“Private gates.”
Another.
“Safe-room locks.”
Another.
“And the concealed service corridor beneath this house.”
Grant stopped breathing.
Tilda looked at him.
Sofia saw the reaction.
“Which one were you using?”
Grant's face hardened.
“You travel constantly. Somebody had to manage this house.”
“Which corridor?”
“No idea.”
Sofia pressed again.
The device showed recent access.
Dates.
Times.
Every entry happened while she was away.
Three weeks ago.
Two weeks ago.
Four nights ago.
Yesterday.
Sofia’s thumb stopped.
Yesterday, Grant had used the device for forty-seven minutes.
At 2:13 a.m.
Tilda looked at the display.
“What was happening then?”
Elsie answered.
“Men came.”
Grant's head snapped toward her.
There.
Too fast.
Sofia crouched.
“What men?”
Elsie hugged Tilda.
“Daddy’s friends.”
Grant laughed harshly.
“She calls delivery drivers friends.”
Elsie shook her head.
“They wore black.”
“Everyone wears black in this family.”
“They went downstairs.”
Grant's smile disappeared.
Sofia looked at him.
“What downstairs?”
No answer.
Elsie pointed toward the fireplace.
“Daddy says secret stairs.”
Sofia stared.
There were no secret stairs near the library.
Not that she knew.
Grant spoke quickly.
“She dreams.”
Sofia walked toward the fireplace.
Family photographs lined the mantel.
One had been moved.
Barely.
Behind it was a tiny recessed button.
Sofia pressed.
Nothing.
Grant stepped forward.
“Don't.”
Too late.
She pressed the black security device against the wall.
Click.
A section of bookcase released.
Tilda gasped.
Sofia stared at the dark stairway behind it.
Grant's face went pale.
Sofia looked at him.
“You built two hidden spaces inside my house.”
Grant said nothing.
Then Elsie whispered:
“Mommy…”
Sofia turned.
May you like
The child pointed toward the stairs.
“That's where Daddy tells the men you're never coming back.”
