I heard Lily screaming before I even opened the door.
“Let go of me!”
I rushed inside.
Richard was dragging my daughter across the living room by her arm.
Lily grabbed the leg of a chair with both hands, desperately trying to stop him.
“Stop fighting me!” Richard shouted.
He pulled harder.
Her fingers slipped.
She hit the floor.
Before Richard could grab her again, Lily tried to crawl away.
She barely made it two feet.
Richard caught her wrist.
That was when I stepped into the room.
“Take your hands off my daughter.”
Richard froze.
Lily looked up.
“Dad…”
Richard slowly turned toward me.
Then, unbelievably, he smiled.
“She needs to learn some respect.”
I took one step forward.
“Let. Her. Go.”
Instead, he shoved Lily aside.
Then he came at me.
He swung first.
He didn’t get a second chance.
One punch sent him stumbling backward into the dining table.
The table collapsed beneath him.
Lily ran straight into my arms.
“You came…”
Her voice broke as she buried her face against my chest.
“I’ve got you,” I said. “Nobody’s touching you again.”
I lifted her into my arms.
Richard groaned behind us, but I didn’t care.
All I wanted was to get Lily out of that house.
I started toward the front door.
Then she grabbed the front of my uniform.
“Dad, wait.”
I stopped.
“What is it?”
She pointed toward the hallway.
At the basement door.
“He locked Noah down there.”
I stared at her.
“What?”
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
“He wouldn’t let him come upstairs.”
A heavy THUD came from behind the basement door.
Then another.
THUD.
Lily jumped.
“That’s him.”
I put her down carefully.
“Stay behind me.”
That was when I heard movement.
Behind us.
Richard had gotten back to his feet.
And he was slowly reaching toward his pocket.
I saw the flash of metal between his fingers.
A key.
“Don’t.”
Richard stopped.
For the first time since I arrived, the smile disappeared from his face.
“Give me the key.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
His fingers closed around the key.
Another bang came from downstairs.
Harder this time.
THUD!
“Dad…” Lily whispered. “Please hurry.”
I stepped toward Richard.
“Last chance.”
His eyes moved from me to the basement door.
Then he did something I wasn’t expecting.
He threw the key.
Not toward me.
Across the room.
It disappeared underneath the couch.
And Richard ran for the back door.
I could have gone after him.
But another violent crash came from the basement.
“Noah!”
Lily dropped to her knees beside the couch.
“I see it!”
She reached underneath and pulled out the key.
I took it and ran to the basement door.
My hand was shaking as I pushed the key into the lock.
It turned.
I opened the door.
Darkness.
The staircase disappeared into a black basement below.
“Noah?”
No answer.
I found the light switch.
Nothing happened.
“The light doesn’t work,” Lily said behind me.
I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Stay upstairs.”
“No. I’m coming with you.”
“Lily—”
“He’s scared of the dark.”
That stopped me.
I looked at my daughter.
She was terrified.
But she was more worried about Noah than herself.
“Stay directly behind me.”
We started down.
One step.
Then another.
The wooden stairs creaked beneath us.
Halfway down, I noticed something on the wall.
Scratch marks.
Deep ones.
At the bottom of the stairs, the basement opened into a storage area filled with boxes and old furniture.
“Noah?”
A faint voice answered.
“Lily?”
She pushed past me.
“Noah!”
The voice came from behind another door at the far end of the basement.
We ran toward it.
I grabbed the handle.
Locked.
“Stand back.”
I slammed my shoulder into the door.
Nothing.
Again.
The frame cracked.
On the third hit, the lock gave way.
The door flew open.
“Noah?”
A boy was sitting against the wall.
His hands were trembling.
Lily ran to him.
But I stopped in the doorway.
Because Noah wasn’t alone.
There was another chair beside him.
Empty.
Rope was still tied around its arms.
And on the floor beneath it was a woman’s necklace.
I recognized it immediately.
Lily did too.
She stared at me.
“Dad…”
Her voice became almost a whisper.
“That’s Mom’s.”
I picked up the necklace.
“Noah,” I said, “where is she?”
He looked toward the stairs.
His face went pale.
“Richard took her.”
“When?”
Noah shook his head.
“No. You don’t understand.”
He pointed toward a small window near the basement ceiling.
The window was open.
“He didn’t leave alone.”
Then, from upstairs, we heard the back door slam.
Lily grabbed my hand.
And I finally understood why Richard had been so desperate to keep us away from the basement.
He hadn’t locked Noah down there just to hide him.
He had been buying himself time.
