A Sound Beyond a Locked Door
The second floor felt unusually cold and quiet compared to the celebration below.
Grant checked their bedroom first.
Empty.
Then Caleb’s nursery.
Empty again.
His heartbeat quickened.
“Audrey?”
No answer.
He kept moving down the hallway.
Then he heard something.
A quiet noise.
Scratching.
Grant stopped.
It seemed to come from a storage room beside the dressing area.
He grabbed the handle.
Locked.
“Audrey?”
A faint voice answered from the other side.
“Grant?”
His stomach dropped.
He opened the door fast.
Audrey was sitting on the floor wrapped in a thin robe, visibly cold and deeply distressed. One side of her face looked irritated, and her eyes were puffy from crying.
For several moments, Grant couldn’t speak.
Audrey reached toward him.
“Caleb. Please find Caleb.”
Grant dropped beside her.
“What happened?”
“Your mother took my phone. Paige locked the door. I tried to leave, but nobody upstairs would listen to me.”
Grant felt his frustration building, but Audrey suddenly gripped his arm.
“Grant, please. Find our baby first.”
He ran.
