Chapter 2: The Woman at the Top of the Stairs
Part 2 ⬇️
Dominic didn't answer Nathan.
He stood slowly, turned around, and looked at the man he had called a brother for seventeen years.
Nathan's face was perfect.
Shocked.
Concerned.
Exactly right.
Too exactly right.
"Daniel," Dominic said quietly.
"Take Harper and Mia upstairs.
Get the doctor."
He waited until their footsteps faded up the staircase.
Then the cellar went silent.
"Dom, I don't know who—"
"She was here the whole week," Dominic said.
"While I was in Atlantic City.
While you gave me daily reports.
While you told me everything was fine."
Nathan opened his hands.
"I had no idea—"
"Her wrists." Dominic's voice dropped.
"Those knots didn't tighten in one day, Nathan."
The silence that followed was different from the one before.
Nathan's jaw moved.
No words came out.
Then footsteps clicked down the corridor above them.
Heels.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Claire appeared at the top of the staircase in a silk robe, her hair loose, a coffee cup in her hand.
She looked down at the broken lock on the floor.
Her expression didn't change.
"You're home early," she said.
Dominic looked up at her.
"Did you know she was down here?"
Claire took a slow sip of coffee.
"Dominic.
That woman has been trying to get close to you for three years.
I protected you."
Harper's voice drifted down from somewhere above them.
"Mommy…
don't let them take me again."
---
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What Claire said next — and what Mia finally told Dominic — exposed a betrayal that went far deeper than one locked door.
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