🔥 THE MAN BEHIND THE WALL — PART 2

The children had been silent for fourteen months. Now they had a secret—and someone in the mansion wanted it buried.

For several seconds, Dominic couldn’t breathe.

The kitchen clock ticked above the refrigerator.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Sophie still held Grace’s hand.

Her tiny knuckles were white.

Dominic lowered the gun slightly.

“What did you say?”

His voice was barely above a whisper.

Sophie stared at the floor.

Grace crouched beside her.

“It’s okay,” she murmured. “You can tell him.”

Sophie shook her head.

Dominic looked at Olivia.

The seven-year-old wasn’t looking at him anymore.

She was watching the hallway.

Her eyes followed something Dominic couldn’t see.

“Olivia.”

Nothing.

Dominic took a step forward.

The girl flinched.

That hurt more than he expected.

He stopped.

The gun in his hand suddenly felt heavier.

He had spent fourteen months believing his daughters were broken by their mother’s death.

Now, for the first time, another possibility entered his mind.

Maybe they hadn’t been silent because they had forgotten.

Maybe they had been silent because they remembered.

Everything.

Dominic slowly lowered himself onto one knee.

“Sweetheart,” he said softly. “Look at me.”

Olivia finally did.

Tears shimmered in her eyes.

Her lips trembled.

Then she raised one small finger and pointed toward the hallway.

Not the front door.

Not the windows.

The hallway.

Dominic followed her gaze.

Nothing moved.

Grace stood.

Her face had gone pale again.

“What exactly did they see?” Dominic asked.

Grace hesitated.

“I don’t know everything.”

“Then tell me what you know.”

She glanced at the girls.

“They started talking to me three weeks ago.”

Dominic’s expression hardened.

“Talking?”

Grace nodded.

“Only when you weren’t here.”

The words landed heavily.

Dominic looked toward his daughters.

Three little faces.

Three pairs of eyes.

Watching him.

Waiting.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

Grace’s voice cracked.

“Because they begged me not to.”

“Why?”

Grace swallowed.

“They said someone would hurt you.”

Silence.

A faint sound came from upstairs.

Click.

Dominic’s head snapped toward the ceiling.

Grace grabbed Sophie.

Olivia climbed down from the table.

Nora buried her face against Grace’s side.

Dominic raised the gun.

“Stay here.”

He took one step into the hallway.

Then another.

The mansion suddenly seemed enormous.

Every doorway was dark.

Every shadow looked occupied.

His eyes moved toward the staircase.

Nothing.

Then he noticed something.

A thin line of light beneath the door of Isabelle’s old study.

Dominic stopped.

That room had been locked since her death.

He hadn’t entered it in months.

Slowly, he approached.

His hand reached for the doorknob.

Behind him, Sophie suddenly screamed.

“Daddy!”

Dominic spun around.

It was the first time she had called him that in fourteen months.

His heart nearly broke.

But Sophie wasn’t looking at him.

She was pointing over his shoulder.

At the study door.

The handle was moving.

Slowly.

From the other side.

Dominic raised the gun.

The handle stopped.

For one terrible second, the entire mansion held its breath.

Then a man’s voice came through the door.

Calm.

Familiar.

Almost amused.

“Dominic…”

His blood turned cold.

Because he knew that voice.

He had heard it at Isabelle’s funeral.

He had heard it in his own house.

And until that moment, he had never realized the killer had been standing close enough to touch his shoulder.