The shimmering silver gown rustled sharply as Margaret Vance stopped dead in her tracks, looking cornered and frantic in the bright white hallway.
Margaret: Put that ungrateful brat back into the wall right this instant, Elena!
Elena: Are you insane? She's a child! She's locked up like an animal in your own house!
Margaret: You don't understand the legal complications. If the board of directors finds out about her existence, the entire family trust collapses!
Elena: I don't care about your trust fund or your board of directors! You locked an innocent girl behind a painting!
Margaret took a sharp step forward, her manicured hands curling into tight fists as her face twisted with desperate panic.
Margaret: Listen to me carefully, maid. If you breathe a single word of this to anyone, you will never work another day in this city.
Elena: Try threatening me after I hand this video over to the local authorities.
Margaret's face drained of color as she noticed the glowing screen of Elena's smartphone pointed directly at her face.
Margaret: Give me that phone! Do you hear me? Delete that footage right now!
Elena: Stay back! Don't you dare come near us!
The young girl buried her face into Elena's shoulder, her small frame shaking uncontrollably as she clutched the fabric of the maid's uniform.
Girl: Brother... please save me from her...
Elena: Your brother? Who is her brother, sweetie?
Girl: Ethan... he doesn't even know I'm locked in here. She told him I was sent away to boarding school.