Chapter 1 - The Belt Moves BackwardSienna was already on her hands and knees when the treadmill belt carried her backward.
Her right palm slapped against the moving surface.
Then her left.
Her knees followed in short, desperate movements as she crawled forward just fast enough to keep herself from sliding toward the rear of the machine.
She was eight years old.
And exhausted.
Her arms trembled every time she pushed herself forward.
Tears streaked down her cheeks.
A safety support rested around her shoulders and upper torso, but to anyone looking quickly, the strap near her collar made the scene appear even more frightening.
“Crawl faster!”
Valerie’s voice cracked through the mansion’s private fitness room.
Sienna flinched.
The treadmill continued humming.
She crawled.
Right hand.
Left hand.
Knee.
Knee.
Her strength faded.
The belt dragged her backward several inches.
Valerie stood beside the controls.
Forty years old, perfectly dressed even inside the house, she watched Sienna with a hard expression that barely changed.
“Did you hear me?”
Sienna looked up.
Her lower lip shook.
“It hurts…”
Valerie’s jaw tightened.
Sienna’s voice became smaller.
“Please let me get off…”
For half a second, Valerie stared at her.
Then she laughed.
Not loudly.
That somehow made it worse.
“Stand up.”
Sienna froze.
Valerie’s hand moved toward the controls.
“RUN! FASTER!”
Sienna startled so sharply that one palm slipped backward.
She caught herself.
A sob escaped her.
What neither of them saw was the woman standing beyond the partially concealed doorway.
Mercedes had been carrying folded towels toward the guest wing when she heard Valerie shouting.
At first, she assumed someone had left the television on.
Then she looked through the doorway.
Her eyes narrowed.
She did not understand what she was seeing.
Then she recognized the small girl on the treadmill.
Mercedes stopped breathing.
Sienna.
Mercedes looked at Valerie.
Back at Sienna.
Her mouth opened.
She immediately stepped backward behind the wall.
Her hands shook as she reached for her phone.
She opened the camera.
Rear lens toward the room.
Screen toward herself.
Mercedes leaned just far enough around the corner to capture a wide view.
The treadmill.
Sienna crawling.
Valerie beside it.
Everything.
“Crawl!”
Valerie shouted again.
Mercedes’ thumb hovered above the stop button.
Her instinct screamed at her to run into the room.
But another thought came first.
Evidence.
If she interrupted Valerie now, Valerie would deny everything.
Colin had been away too often.
Every time Mercedes had tried to mention Sienna’s strange silence, Valerie had dismissed it.
“She’s adjusting.”
“She misses her father.”
“She’s dramatic.”
Mercedes recorded twelve more seconds.
Then she stopped.
Her breathing shook.
She opened Colin’s contact.
Attached the video.
Typed only:
Please watch this. It is Sienna.
Send.
Miles away, Colin drove his black SUV along a divided suburban highway.
His phone vibrated in the center console.
He glanced down only long enough to see Mercedes’ name.
A video.
His eyebrows drew together.
Mercedes almost never contacted him while he was working.
He activated his turn signal.
Moved into the right lane.
Exited.
Pulled onto a safe shoulder near a quiet access road.
The SUV stopped completely.
Only then did Colin pick up the phone.
He opened Mercedes’ message.
The video began.
At first, Colin did not understand.
He saw the fitness room.
The treadmill.
Valerie.
Then the camera shifted slightly.
A small figure appeared.
Colin leaned closer.
His eyes narrowed.
His lips parted.
“No…”
Sienna looked up in the video.
Her face was wet with tears.
“Please let me get off…”
Something inside Colin stopped.
The phone seemed suddenly too heavy.
His daughter’s hands trembled against the treadmill belt.
Her body slid backward.
Valerie shouted.
“RUN! FASTER!”
Colin’s breathing changed.
He watched the clip again.
Not because he doubted what he had seen.
Because his mind refused to accept that the woman he had married was standing beside his daughter.
Doing this.
His eyes reddened.
His jaw locked.
For one terrible second, he remembered Sienna asking him two weeks earlier whether he could stay home for dinner.
He had kissed her forehead.
“Next week, sweetheart.”
Next week had become another meeting.
Another flight.
Another excuse.
Colin lowered the phone.
His hands shook once.
Then stopped.
Cold fury replaced shock.
He put the SUV into gear.
Turned around.
Twenty-one minutes later, the private road toward his estate stretched ahead.
The mansion appeared between rows of trees.
Then the iron gate.
Colin braked.
The SUV stopped directly in front of it.
He stared toward the house.
His phone vibrated again.
Mercedes.
Colin looked down.
This time there was no video.
May you like
Only four words.
There is something else.
Related Stories
