Chapter 9: The Voice Behind the Wall
David couldn't move.
Anna's voice came from upstairs again.
“David, don't believe Rebecca.””
Sophie buried her face against his side.
“Daddy, that's Mommy.””
“I know.””
His own voice sounded unfamiliar.
Ethan raised his weapon toward the staircase.
“Stay behind me.””
Rebecca looked almost amused.
“You finally understand.””
David stared at her.
“What is that?””
“A recording.””
“You knew?””
Rebecca nodded.
“I knew Anna made one.””
“Then why did you let me think she was alive?””
“I didn't.””
“She just spoke.””
“You heard what she wanted you to hear.””
Another voice came from upstairs.
David's father.
“Son, come upstairs.””
Ethan moved closer to David.
“Don't.””
David looked at him.
“If Anna left a recording, I need to hear it.””
“You can hear it without walking into a trap.””
Rebecca pointed toward the ceiling.
“Your father has the original.””
David stared at her.
“Then how did he play it?””
“He didn't.””
Everyone froze.
A slow creak sounded above them.
Someone was walking across the floor.
Rebecca's face lost its faint smile.
“That wasn't part of the plan.””
Ethan raised his weapon.
“David, we leave.””
David shook his head.
“Not without the recording.””
The voice came again.
“David.””
This time it sounded different.
Closer.
“Please.””
David knew the voice.
The way Anna softened his name.
The little breath before the word.
He had heard it thousands of times.
He climbed the stairs.
Ethan followed.
Rebecca stayed below.
“Don't go,” Lauren whispered.
David stopped.
“What?””
Lauren looked terrified.
“She never called you like that.””
David stared.
“What do you mean?””
“Anna always called you David when she was angry.””
David's chest tightened.
“And?””
“Your name was different when she was afraid.””
He remembered.
A tiny detail.
One he had forgotten.
When Anna was genuinely frightened, she never said David.
She said Dave.
Only once had she called him that in her final years.
And now the voice upstairs was saying David.
He turned to Ethan.
“It's fake.””
Ethan nodded.
“Probably.””
A gunshot exploded from the second floor.
Sophie screamed.
David ducked.
Wood splintered from the wall above him.
Ethan pushed him back.
“Down!””
Another shot.
Then silence.
David's father shouted:
“Come up here alone!””
Ethan looked at David.
“Absolutely not.””
David looked toward Rebecca.
She was still at the foot of the stairs.
“Where's the recording?””
Rebecca's face tightened.
“In the nursery.””
David moved.
Ethan followed.
The hallway upstairs was dark.
A single door stood open.
The nursery.
David stopped outside.
For four years, he had avoided this room.
The crib was still there.
The wallpaper still had the clouds Anna had painted herself.
A small wooden train sat on the floor beneath the window.
David stepped inside.
He could almost hear Anna humming.
Ethan closed the door behind them.
“Look for anything unusual.””
David scanned the walls.
Nothing.
“Rebecca said behind the wall.””
They moved the crib.
Behind it was a section of wallpaper with a faint seam.
David touched it.
“Here.””
Ethan ran his hand along the edge.
“There's a cavity.””
He pried the panel loose.
A small black recorder fell into David's hand.
His heart stopped.
Anna.
Four years ago.
She had hidden this.
David pressed the button.
Static.
Then her voice.
Real this time.
Soft.
Breathing hard.
“Dave.””
David closed his eyes.
It was her.
No question.
“I'm recording this because I don't know if I'll get another chance.””
Ethan went completely still.
Anna continued.
“If you're hearing this, Sophie is safe.””
David gripped the recorder.
“I need you to understand what happened.””
A pause.
Then:
“Ethan is not Sophie’s father.””
David looked at his brother.
Ethan's face went pale.
The recording continued.
“I know people will tell you otherwise. Some will even show you documents.””
David's pulse raced.
“But the DNA was altered.””
Ethan whispered, “What?””
Anna went on.
“The original report showed that Sophie is yours, Dave.””
David stopped breathing.
His knees nearly gave out.
Ethan stared at him.
Anna's voice trembled.
“Your father changed the report because he needed leverage.””
David gripped the edge of the crib.
“My God.””
“He told me he could destroy you if I ever exposed what he was doing.””
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Ethan raised his weapon.
David kept listening.
“Ethan found evidence of the financial fraud. He came to me because he believed your father would kill him.””
A pause.
“He was right.””
David looked at Ethan.
“You weren't Sophie’s father.””
Ethan shook his head.
“I told you I didn't know.””
David listened.
Anna's voice grew quieter.
“I asked Lauren to help me.””
Lauren.
The name cut through David.
“She was never my enemy.””
Ethan whispered, “David…”
Anna continued.
“Lauren was the mother of the child I was helping protect.””
David frowned.
The story didn't make sense.
Then:
“She had a baby before she was ready to raise one. The baby belongs to Lauren and Ethan.””
David stared at the recorder.
That part was true.
“But Sophie was not that baby.””
His blood went cold.
“What?””
The recording continued.
“The baby Lauren and Ethan had was taken the night she gave birth.””
David's hands began to shake.
“They replaced her with another infant.””
Ethan's face changed.
Anna was crying now.
“I didn't know why at first.””
The recording crackled.
“Then I found out who that baby really was.””
David whispered, “Sophie.””
Anna said the words:
“The child I raised as Sophie was the daughter of the woman Rebecca murdered.””
Silence.
David looked at Ethan.
“Rebecca murdered someone?””
Anna continued.
“She killed her own daughter.””
A floorboard creaked outside.
Ethan raised his weapon.
David didn't move.
Anna's final words came slowly.
“She needed a child she could control. She needed a family story that would protect the Mercer fortune.””
David felt sick.
“And the reason she chose my family…”
The recording paused.
Then Anna whispered:
“is because Sophie is the rightful heir to everything.””
The recorder clicked.
End.
David stared at it.
The door opened.
His father stood in the hallway.
Gun in hand.
“Give me the recorder.””
David stood.
“You changed the DNA report.””
His father looked at him.
“Yes.””
“You lied about Ethan.””
“Yes.””
“You knew Sophie was mine.””
“Yes.””
David's voice broke.
“Why?””
His father stepped inside.
“Because your brother found the accounts.””
Ethan raised his weapon.
“You're done.””
David's father laughed.
“You still don't understand.””
“I understand enough.””
“No.””
His father pointed the gun toward the nursery floor.
“You understand the part Anna wanted you to understand.””
David's eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?””
His father looked at the recorder.
“She lied too.””
David froze.
“What?””
“She never told you everything.””
His father lowered his weapon slightly.
“Anna discovered the truth about the child.””
David stepped forward.
“Which truth?””
“She found out Sophie wasn't ours.””
David's face hardened.
“I heard the recording.””
“Yes.””
“And?””
His father's eyes shifted.
“She never told you why the child was replaced.””
David felt the room go cold.
“Why?””
“Because she knew the replacement wasn't an accident.””
Ethan said, “Enough.””
David ignored him.
“Why was Sophie replaced?””
His father looked directly at him.
“Because the original baby was worth too much.””
David frowned.
“What does that mean?””
“She was born into the wrong family.””
“Explain.””
“The baby Anna lost was supposed to inherit everything from Rebecca.””
David's stomach dropped.
“Rebecca?””
“Yes.””
His father looked toward the hallway.
“She knew her daughter was dangerous. She knew what would happen if the child grew up under her control.””
“So she stole her?””
“She arranged it.””
“And Lauren?””
“She was told her baby died.””
David looked at Ethan.
Ethan's face was white.
“Anna took Sophie?””
His father shook his head.
“No.””
“Then who?””
His father smiled.
“Your wife.””
David stared.
“Anna kidnapped a child?””
“She rescued one.””
The words hung in the air.
David's father continued.
“Anna discovered the switch.””
“She knew Sophie wasn't Lauren's baby?””
“Yes.””
“And she took Sophie?””
“Yes.””
“To protect her.””
“Yes.””
David looked at the recorder.
“She raised her as our daughter.””
“She did.””
“Why didn't she tell me?””
His father's expression hardened.
“Because you would've gone to the police.””
David's voice dropped.
“And that would've been bad because…”
“The people behind the exchange would have killed Sophie.””
Silence.
Ethan lowered his weapon slightly.
“Who arranged the exchange?””
David's father didn't answer.
David stepped closer.
“Who?””
His father looked toward the nursery door.
“Your mother.””
David froze.
“My mother was dead.””
“She died because Rebecca made sure she did.””
David's world fractured again.
“My mother knew?””
“Yes.””
“And she helped Anna?””
“No.””
His father's face went empty.
“She was the first person Anna had to escape from.””
A sound came from the hallway.
Slow applause.
Everyone turned.
Rebecca stood in the doorway.
Her face had changed.
There was no calm left.
No elegance.
Only fury.
“You were never supposed to tell him.””
David stared at her.
“You killed my mother.””
Rebecca raised her gun.
“I killed everyone who got in the way.””
Ethan stepped in front of David.
Rebecca fired.
The bullet tore through Ethan's shoulder.
He fell.
“Ethan!””
David lunged toward him.
Rebecca raised the weapon again.
Then Lauren appeared behind her.
She slammed a heavy lamp into Rebecca's arm.
The gun hit the floor.
Rebecca screamed.
Lauren grabbed David.
“Run!””
David pulled Ethan up.
They stumbled down the hall.
Rebecca recovered quickly.
“You stupid girl!””
Lauren shouted back.
“You're finished!””
Rebecca laughed.
“No.””
She looked at David.
“Ask your father who Anna really was.””
David stopped.
His father stood at the nursery entrance.
Rebecca smiled.
“Because she wasn't the woman you married.””
David turned.
His father's face told him the answer before he spoke.
“Anna was my sister.””
The world stopped.
David stared.
“What?””
His father swallowed.
“She was never your mother’s daughter.””
May you like
Rebecca stepped backward.
“And now you know why the family killed her.””