Chapter 2 - The Voice Behind The Wall
Chapter 2 - The Voice Behind The Wall
The kitchen remained frozen in silence.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
The only sound was the weak breathing of the boy who had just crawled out of the darkness.
The billionaire father stared at the child's face.
The dust covering his cheeks could not hide the familiar eyes.
The same eyes he had looked into every night in old photographs.
The same eyes he had believed he would never see again.
His hands trembled as he reached forward.
"Daniel..."
The boy looked up.
His lips started shaking.
For a moment, he looked afraid.
Not of the strangers around him.
But of the woman standing behind them.
The woman who had been smiling moments earlier.
The woman who now looked like she had seen a ghost.
The father's girlfriend slowly stepped backward.
Her expensive white athletic outfit was still perfectly clean.
But her face had lost all color.
The contractor noticed her reaction.
He looked from the boy to the woman.
Then he understood something was wrong.
The father pulled the child closer.
"Tell me your name."
The boy swallowed.
"Daniel."
The father's knees almost collapsed.
Because Daniel was the name of his son.
The son everyone told him had died seven years ago.
The son he buried in his heart.
The son he had mourned every birthday.
The boy reached into his dusty overalls.
His fingers wrapped tightly around a small silver camcorder.
The father noticed it immediately.
"What is that?"
Daniel looked at the device.
His expression changed.
Fear.
Pain.
And determination.
"I kept it hidden."
The room became silent again.
The girlfriend suddenly stepped forward.
"That camera doesn't mean anything."
Her voice was too fast.
Too desperate.
The father slowly turned toward her.
For the first time in years, he looked at her like a stranger.
"Why are you scared of a child's camera?"
She opened her mouth.
But no answer came.
Daniel held the camcorder against his chest.
"I recorded everything."
The contractor lowered his hammer.
"What did you record?"
The boy looked at the broken wall behind him.
His voice became quieter.
"The night they put me inside."
The father's expression changed.
"What did you say?"
Daniel looked directly at him.
"They told everyone I was gone."
A cold feeling moved through the kitchen.
The father felt like the entire world was collapsing around him.
"Who told everyone?"
The boy's eyes moved slowly toward the girlfriend.
The woman immediately shook her head.
"No."
The word escaped her lips before anyone accused her.
The father heard it.
Everyone heard it.
And that single reaction was enough to create doubt.
Daniel pressed the power button on the camcorder.
A tiny red light appeared.
The old device hummed.
A recording file appeared on the screen.
The father stared at it.
His heart started beating faster.
Because the date on the video was seven years old.
The same night his son disappeared.
The same night he was told his child had died.
Daniel looked at his father.
"I wanted to show you."
His voice broke.
"But I was scared."
The father knelt down.
His eyes filled with tears.
"Scared of who?"
The boy whispered.
"Her."
Everyone turned.
The girlfriend covered her mouth.
The father stood slowly.
His sadness disappeared.
Something colder replaced it.
Anger.
Pure and controlled.
The contractor looked toward the hallway.
The house that once represented luxury now felt like a crime scene.
The father reached for the camcorder.
But Daniel held onto it.
"I need you to promise me something."
The father looked confused.
"What?"
The boy stared at the woman.
"Don't let her destroy the evidence."
The girlfriend suddenly moved forward.
"Give me that camera."
Her voice was no longer calm.
The father stepped between them.
"No."
The single word echoed through the kitchen.
The woman stopped.
The father looked at her.
"You spent seven years letting me believe my son was dead."
His voice became colder.
"Now you are afraid of what a nine-year-old recorded?"
The girlfriend's eyes filled with panic.
Because she knew.
The wall was gone.
The hiding place was gone.
And the one thing she had failed to destroy was now standing in front of everyone.
The father looked down at the camcorder.
Then he pressed play.
The screen flickered.
A dark room appeared.
A small child was crying.
And then a familiar voice came through the speakers.
A voice that would change everything.
"Nobody can know he is still alive."
The father's face turned completely pale.
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Because he recognized the voice.
It belonged to someone he trusted.
