Chapter 2 - The Walls That Have Eyes
The police arrived in overwhelming numbers, flooding the estate with flashing blue and red lights that illuminated the dark night.
Julian refused to let any officer or paramedic touch Clara without his explicit, direct supervision.
He carried her upstairs himself, bypassing the grand master bedroom and taking her to a secure, comfortable guest suite in the west wing.
A female paramedic gently cleaned the cuts on Clara’s feet while Julian sat beside her, holding her hand with a white-knuckled grip.
Once the medical team had finished their initial assessment, a seasoned detective named Harrison entered the room with a grim expression.
“Mr. Vance, we have Victoria Sterling in custody, but she is demanding a lawyer and refusing to speak,” Detective Harrison stated.
Julian nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving Clara’s pale, exhausted face.
“I don't care if she speaks right now,” Julian replied coldly.
“I want to know how she physically hid my wife in a house that I live in.”
Clara’s voice, raspy and quiet from years of forced silence, finally broke the heavy tension in the room.
“The servant corridors,” she whispered, staring blankly at the patterned wallpaper.
Julian frowned, a deep confusion settling over his sharp features.
“The servant corridors were sealed off and completely dry-walled over thirty years ago when my grandfather renovated the estate,” Julian said.
Clara slowly shook her head, tears welling up in her exhausted eyes once again.
“Victoria had them secretly reopened during the few weeks you were away on business in Tokyo four years ago,” Clara explained.
“She bribed the contractors to install hidden doors behind the bookshelves in the library and behind the heavy tapestries in the dining room.”
Julian felt a wave of absolute nausea wash over him as the horrifying truth finally clicked into place.
Victoria had literally built a prison inside the walls of his own home.
“She kept me in the old basement storage rooms during the day when you were home,” Clara continued, her voice trembling with the memory.
“I was only allowed out at night to clean the floors, or during the days when you were away on your extended business trips.”
The detective furiously scribbled notes on his pad, completely horrified by the sheer level of calculated cruelty.
“If I ever made a sound, she told me she would have your private plane sabotaged,” Clara sobbed, burying her face in her hands.
“She told me you hated me, that you wanted me gone, and that she was the only one keeping you from killing me.”
Julian closed his eyes, completely gutted by the massive weight of the psychological torture his wife had endured.
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He leaned forward and gently pulled Clara into his arms, kissing the top of her head repeatedly.
He silently vowed to tear down every single wall in the estate until Victoria’s entire hidden empire was reduced to dust.
