Chapter 2
The silence in the grand hall grew so profound that the hum of the catering refrigerators in the adjacent room sounded like a roaring engine. Nathanael lowered his gaze from Elena’s panicked, wide-eyed stare to the glowing screen of the police officer’s tablet. The video began to play with unsettling clarity, the timestamp marking it at three o'clock that very morning—just hours before the wedding ceremony was set to begin.
On the screen, the familiar plush carpeting of the estate’s private second-floor hallway stretched out under the dim sconce lighting. A door clicked open, and Elena stepped out of the master guest suite wearing a silk bathrobe. Her face, usually so soft and angelic in Nathanael’s presence, was twisted into an unrecognizable mask of pure, unadulterated fury. She glanced up and down the corridor, ensuring it was empty, before turning back toward the open doorway of the adjoining room where little Lily slept.
"Get up, you miserable little brat," the audio recording captured Elena hissing, her voice a sharp venom that made Nathanael physically recoil.
On the tablet screen, Elena marched back into the room and yanked the bedding away. Little Lily, wrapped in her dinosaur pajamas, stumbled out onto the floor, rubbing her eyes and whimpering softly. Without a moment of hesitation, Elena grabbed the child roughly by the upper arm, her fingers digging deep into the delicate flesh. Lily cried out sharply, a sound of genuine terror that mirrored the exact tone she had used just moments ago in the ballroom.
"If you ruin my wedding day—if you breathe a word to Nathanael about the things you saw in the basement—I will make sure you never see daylight again," Elena whispered fiercely, shaking the five-year-old until her small head bobbed violently.
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Nathanael felt the floor drop out from beneath his polished shoes. The oxygen vanished from his lungs. His vision blurred at the edges, the crystal chandelier spinning wildly above him like a mocking halo. He looked up from the tablet, his gaze locking onto the woman standing a few yards away in the elaborate white lace dress. The exquisite bodice now seemed less like bridal attire and more like a straitjacket holding back a feral animal.
"Elena," Nathanael breathed, his voice hollowed out, stripped
