Chapter 4 – They Came Back
The front door slammed against the wall.
Three men stepped inside.
The first was broad-shouldered, wearing muddy work boots and a faded construction jacket. Gray streaked his beard, but his hard eyes swept the room with unsettling calm.
Behind him stood two younger men.
Neither spoke.
Neither looked surprised to see the living room floor ripped open.
The older man smiled.
"Patricia."
His voice was almost friendly.
"I told you to keep this place closed."
Daniel climbed out of the crawl space, dirt covering his clothes. He still held the flashlight in one hand and the pry bar in the other.
"Who are you?"
The man ignored him.
Instead, he looked at Patricia.
"You said no one would ever look under the floor."
Patricia's face crumpled.
"I tried..."
"You failed."
Daniel stepped between them.
"My son disappeared from this house."
Now the man's eyes settled on him.
"So you're Daniel."
"You know my name."
"I know a lot of things."
Daniel tightened his grip on the pry bar.
"You'd better start talking."
The man chuckled.
"I don't answer questions."
His gaze drifted toward the opening in the floor.
Then to the hidden chamber below.
For the first time, his expression changed.
Just for a second.
Concern.
Then it vanished.
"You found the room."
Daniel saw it.
He had expected surprise.
Instead, the man looked... disappointed.
As though someone had opened a door that was never supposed to be found.
Outside, sirens echoed faintly in the distance.
Mariana had slipped onto the porch moments earlier and dialed 911 without anyone noticing.
The older man's head turned.
He heard them too.
"So," he said quietly, "we don't have much time."
One of the younger men reached into his jacket.
Daniel instantly raised the pry bar.
"Don't."
The younger man froze.
Instead of pulling out a weapon, he removed a ring of keys.
The older man nodded.
"Get the basement."
"There isn't a basement," Patricia whispered.
"There is now."
The younger man walked straight past everyone.
He disappeared into the kitchen.
Seconds later, a heavy metallic clunk echoed through the house.
Daniel frowned.
"What was that?"
The entire floor vibrated.
Then a section of kitchen cabinets slowly slid away from the wall.
Hidden behind them...
...was a steel door.
Mariana stared in disbelief.
"That's impossible."
Patricia looked as though she might faint.
"I... I never knew..."
The older man laughed.
"No."
"You never wanted to know."
Daniel's pulse pounded.
One hidden room.
Now another.
How much of this house had been concealed?
The steel door stood slightly open.
Cold air drifted out.
Unlike the crawl space, this air smelled clean.
Filtered.
Almost fresh.
Electric lights glowed somewhere below.
Someone had used this place recently.
Very recently.
Then Inés screamed from outside.
"Daddy!"
Daniel spun toward the front window.
His daughter stood beside Aunt Rosa, pointing toward the backyard.
"He ran!"
Everyone rushed to the window.
A small figure was sprinting through the overgrown trees behind the property.
Bare feet.
A blue shirt.
Thin.
Too thin.
For one impossible second...
Daniel forgot how to breathe.
"Leo..."
The child disappeared into the woods.
Daniel dropped the flashlight and bolted for the back door.
"Daniel!" Mariana shouted.
But he was already running.
Behind him, the older man smiled again.
May you like
Exactly as if...
...that was what he had been hoping Daniel would do.
