Chapter 5 - THE NORTH WING SILENCE
"Explain yourself," Dominic commanded, his voice deadly quiet as he closed the distance between us.
I pointed toward the peeled wallpaper near the baseboard where the dark crayon scribbles were hidden.
"Noah draws those black squares everywhere," I explained, keeping my voice calm despite the racing of my heart. "And the red X's. Today, when your brother Julian walked into this room, Noah didn't just hide—he covered his ears and froze in terror. He didn't react that way to you, nor to the security guards."
Dominic stared at the scribbles on the wall. He knelt down, tracing the thick black crayon lines with his index finger.
"Julian was in Europe the night Elena died," Dominic said, though his voice lacked conviction. "He was handling our distribution accounts in Italy."
"Are you sure, Mr. Vale?" I asked gently.
Dominic’s head snapped toward me, his dark eyes ablaze. "Do not push your luck, Clara. My brother has been at my side since we were children. He built this business with me."
"I'm not accusing anyone, sir," I lied smoothly. "I'm just telling you what your son is showing me. Children who suffer severe trauma don't use words to tell the truth. They use behavior."
Dominic stood up, his massive frame towering over me. He stared at me in intense silence for a long moment before reaching into his suit pocket. He pulled out a sleek black keycard and held it out to me.
"What is this?" I asked.
"It opens the master nursery in the north wing," Dominic said. "The room Elena built for him before she died. No one has been inside that room since the funeral. I locked it two years ago."
My breath hitched. Mrs. Hargrove’s warning echoed in my mind: Never enter the north wing.
"Why are you giving this to me?" I asked.
"Because the specialists said opening that room would trigger his regression," Dominic said, his voice strained with emotion. "They said it was too dangerous. But you... you see things they missed. Go up there tonight. See if there is anything inside that room that explains why my son is breaking."
He handed me the keycard. His fingers briefly brushed against mine—they were warm, calloused, and surprisingly steady.
"If my brother is involved in this, Clara," Dominic added, his voice dropping to a harsh whisper that sent a shiver down my spine, "I will burn this entire city to the ground. But if you are lying to me to create drama, I will make sure you never work in this state again."
"I'm not lying, Mr. Vale," I said softly.
That night, at 1:00 AM, the mansion was plunged into silence. Armed guards stood posted at the perimeter gates, but the interior hallways were empty, save for the hum of security cameras scanning the corridors.
I slipped out of my small staff bedroom in the attic, wearing soft sneakers and holding the black keycard tightly in my hand.
I walked down the dark hallway toward the north wing—the forbidden sector of the mansion.
The heavy mahogany doors at the end of the hall stood imposing and dark. I swiped the black keycard through the digital reader.
BEEP. A small green light flashed, and the heavy lock disengaged with a soft metallic click.
I pushed the door open and stepped inside.
The air inside the north wing nursery was stale, smelling of old dust, dried flowers, and baby powder. The room was untouched—a crib stood in the center, wrapped in white lace, surrounded by hand-painted murals of stars and moons.
I clicked on my phone’s flashlight, sweeping the beam across the room.
Everything looked normal until the light passed over a small wooden desk in the corner.
Sitting on top of the desk was an old-fashioned baby monitor—a bulky white receiver with an antenna.
I stepped closer to inspect it. The power light was off, but when I picked it up, I noticed something strange.
A fresh, modern micro-recording device had been taped to the inside battery compartment. It was wired directly into the room's electrical conduit.
Someone hadn't just been monitoring Noah.
Someone had been broadcasting live audio from inside this room for two straight years.
May you like
Before I could pull the device out, the sound of a gun cocking shattered the silence behind me.
"I told you not to enter the north wing, Clara," a cold, smooth voice whispered from the darkness of the doorway.
