Chapter 2 - Shadows in the Hallway
The linen closet on the second floor was quiet, but for Hunter Bennett, there was no true quiet anywhere anymore.
She stood in the soft yellow glow of the utility light, folding fresh cream towels with slow, deliberate movements. She was twenty-four, her slender frame swathed in a modest maid's uniform. Her long dark-brown hair was pulled back into a loose bun, revealing a face that was naturally beautiful, yet hollowed by sheer emotional exhaustion.
Every breath she took felt like dragging glass through her lungs.
Underneath the long sleeve of her uniform, resting tightly against her pale skin, was a rigid plastic band—a maternity hospital bracelet from St. Jude’s Memorial. She hadn't taken it off. She couldn't. To snip that band meant admitting that the nursery she had prepared at home was empty. It meant accepting that the quiet weight she used to feel inside her was truly gone.
A faint, distant sound drifted down the corridor.
Hunter froze.
It was a cry. Weak, thin, like the sound of a wounded bird.
Her chest tightened with a sudden, painful instinct. Her milk came in with a sharp, throbbing ache that nearly brought her to her knees. She leaned against the shelf, gripping the smooth wood, her eyes wide in the dark.
She knew that cry. For the past two weeks since she started working at the estate, she had heard it. Lorenzo Rossi’s newborn son was dying of starvation. The whole staff talked about it in whispered tones in the kitchen—how the boss was firing doctors, how the baby refused every formula, how the mansion was a ticking time bomb.
Hunter walked out into the dimly lit hallway. The marble floors were cold beneath her shoes. She moved like a ghost through the quiet corridors, drawn irresistibly toward the third floor.
She stopped at the corner near the nursery wing. Up ahead, the two guards were momentarily stepping down the hall to brief the head of security. The nursery door stood slightly ajar, a sliver of warm light spilling onto the floor.
Inside, the faint, desperate whimpers of the baby cut through Hunter’s soul.
She pulled back her sleeve just an inch. The white plastic bracelet glistened under the wall sconce.
Baby Boy Bennett. October 14.
May you like
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes. Her arms felt terribly, agonizingly empty. She knew she was just a maid. She knew stepping into Lorenzo Rossi’s personal quarters without permission could cost her her job, or worse.
She took a deep, shuddering breath, pushed open the door, and stepped into the quiet room.
