Audrey was already trapped on the shallow pool steps when Vivienne shoved her backward into the water and refused to let her climb out.

The concealed panel opened inward after Mrs. Keller pressed a narrow stone beneath the pool ledge.

A dark service passage waited behind it.

Cassandro had known the estate since childhood. His father had shown him wine tunnels, emergency exits, old weapons rooms, even a hidden stairway beneath the library.

He had never been shown this.

Mrs. Keller stood beside Audrey with both hands clasped tightly in front of her. Vivienne watched from under guard near the ruined cabana screen, while Damian had stopped pretending the passage meant nothing.

“How long have you known?” Cassandro asked.

Mrs. Keller swallowed.

“Since Audrey was a baby.”

That answer hurt more than the wall.

Cassandro stepped inside.

The passage ended at a small room with no windows. A narrow cot stood against one wall. There was an old pitcher, folded blankets, and a child’s wooden music box covered in dust.

Then Cassandro saw the bracelet.

It hung from a nail beside the cot.

Faded blue.

Exactly like Audrey’s.

He took it down slowly.

Natalie had worn the matching one through most of her pregnancy. Cassandro had bought both bracelets during a weekend in Maine because Natalie had laughed at how cheap they looked next to his watch.

After she disappeared, he searched for hers everywhere.

Vivienne had told him Natalie probably threw it away.

Cassandro turned.

Vivienne immediately looked at Damian.

That was enough.

Mrs. Keller began crying.

“Natalie was kept here for four days.”

Cassandro’s hand tightened around the bracelet.

“Kept?”

Mrs. Keller nodded.

“She didn’t stay willingly.”

Vivienne laughed from outside the room.