Maya: No!
Eleanor: I said put the painting back right now and step away from that wall!
Maya: Are you out of your mind?! You hid a child in there?!
Maya spun around on the marble floor, her arms wrapped tightly around the shivering young girl. Eleanor Vance stood towering over them in a floor-length silver gown, her diamond necklace sparkling under the hallway lights, her face contorted in a mask of cold, commanding authority.
Eleanor: You are a paid maid in this house! You do not speak to me like that, nor do you meddle in things you don't understand!
Maya: She was handcuffed! She had tape over her mouth! She could have suffocated in there!
Eleanor: She was kept out of sight where she belongs! Now hand her over to me and walk back to the kitchen before I have security throw you out on the street!
Maya stood up, pulling the little girl with her and shielding the child behind her apron. Her hand accidentally bumped the silver tray on the side table, sending a crystal champagne glass crashing to the polished marble floor, shattering into a hundred glittering shards.
Maya: I am not giving this child back to a monster who locks children inside drywall!
Lily: Brother... please... save my brother...
Maya: What did you say, sweetie?
Lily: My brother... he's deeper inside... in the dark room...
Maya’s blood ran cold. She turned back toward the open cavity behind the portrait frame, staring into the pitch-black void that stretched further into the foundation of the estate mansion. Eleanor took a sudden, aggressive step forward, her silver heels clicking loudly against the marble stone.
Eleanor: Don't you dare look back in there! Security! Guard the hallway!
Maya: Stay back from me!
Ignoring Eleanor's harsh commands, Maya reached into her apron pocket and pulled out her smartphone. Switching on the bright flashlight beam, she leaned back into the dark cavity, pointing the light directly forward into the narrow hidden room. The white light cut through the gloom, revealing a second small figure huddled against a cold concrete wall, his ankles bound in heavy iron chains.