Mark dropped to his knees on the hard marble and wrapped his strong arms around little Lily.
Mark: What happened sweetie, why are you crying so hard on the floor like this?
Lily: Mommy stepped on the bread I tried to give to the lady in the wall!
Mark looked up at Victoria with deep confusion resting across his clear brown eyes in the bright light.
Mark: Victoria, what is going on here and why are you screaming at our small child?
Victoria: She is making up wild stories about people living inside the heating ventilation ducts again.
Victoria stepped quickly over the crushed bread and placed her hands firmly on her narrow hips.
Victoria: She is wasting good food and smudging the clean brass with her sticky little fingers.
Suddenly, a muffled voice rasped weakly from deep inside the brass air vent behind the wall panel.
Voice Behind Wall: Daddy, please help me get out of this dark hidden room right now!
Mark froze instantly on the floor as his heart gave a sudden heavy thud inside his chest.
The voice sounded soft and terrified, yet strangely familiar to his overwhelmed and shocked heart.
He pulled away from Lily slowly and slid closer to the low metal vent on his hands.
Mark: Who is in there right now, can you hear my voice through this thick metal wall?
Voice Behind Wall: It is Clara, please open the hidden heavy door in the small storage pantry!
Mark gasped aloud because Clara was his adult daughter from his first beloved marriage who vanished months ago.
He stared up at Victoria with fierce anger rising quickly in his chest as he stood up straight.
Mark: How could you lock my own adult daughter inside a secret room in this house?!
Victoria: She was trying to ruin our family life and take away all our family money!
Mark: You lied to me for four months and said she ran away to another city!
Victoria backed away defensively as Mark stepped forward with fists clenched tightly at his side.
Victoria: She was going to tell the lawyers that this whole entire mansion belonged to her mother!
Mark: That does not give you any right to keep a human being hidden away like this!
Lily pulled on her father's suit jacket while tears continued to stream down her small pink cheeks.
Lily: Daddy, please go save Clara because she has been trapped in the dark so long!
Mark: Show me where the door is right now or I will tear this house down myself!
Victoria wiped a cold bead of sweat from her forehead as her face turned completely pale white.