Chapter 2 - The Screaming SilenceIt was Maya.
She was barefoot. Her cream-colored flower girl dress was torn to shreds, drenched in dark, foul-smelling swamp mud, and streaked with crimson scratches. Her tangled chestnut hair was caked in grime, sticking to her trembling forehead. Mud covered her pale cheeks, carved open by fresh streaks of tears.
"Maya?" David choked out, the word barely escaping his lips before raw instinct took over.
Ignoring the officiant, the bewildered guests, and the pristine carpet beneath his polished dress shoes, David broke into a frantic sprint down the aisle.
The little girl stumbled forward, her tiny knees buckling under exhaustion. Her chest heaved in ragged, desperate gasps. When she saw David running toward her, the terror in her eyes broke into a gut-wrenching wail that pierced the high ceilings of the cathedral.
"Daddy!" she cried, her voice cracked, hoarse, and shaking with pure agony. "Daddy, please help me!"
David dropped to his knees right in the center of the aisle, catching her small, filthy frame into his arms. The icy dampness of her clothes and the violent shivering of her body hit him like a physical blow.
"Maya! What happened to you? Baby, look at me!" David panicked, his hands cupping her dirty cheeks, searching frantically for broken bones or head injuries. Her skin was freezing, her lips blue. "Who did this to you? Where were you?"
Maya buried her face into the silk lapel of his tuxedo, sobbing uncontrollably. Her tiny fingernails dug into his chest as if she feared that letting go would mean her death.
"She... she put me in the dark box, Daddy!" Maya wailed between jagged breaths. "The lady... she said you didn't want me anymore! She locked me in the well by the old stables!"
The words struck David like lightning. The cathedral was so silent that Maya’s high-pitched sobs carried all the way to the altar.
Behind David, the rustle of tulle and silk approached rapidly. Vanessa had rushed down the aisle, her face an unreadable mask of disbelief and horror.
"Maya! Oh my God, sweetheart!" Vanessa cried out, reaching her manicured hands toward the child, her voice laden with dramatic sympathy. "What on earth happened to you? David, give her to me, let me clean her up—"
The moment Vanessa stepped within arm's reach, Maya let out a blood-curdling shriek. The child recoiled violently, cowering into the hollow of David's neck, clawing at his back to put him between them.
"NO! Stay away! Daddy, don't let her touch me!" Maya screamed in sheer terror.
David looked up.
For a fraction of a second, the mask slipped. Vanessa’s wide-eyed concern hardened into something cold, venomous, and panicked. Her pupils were dilated, darting toward the open exit and then back to the crying child.
When Vanessa reached forward again to touch Maya's shoulder, David’s forearm came up with brutal, unhesitating force.
He shoved her back hard.
"Get away from my child!" David roared, his voice thunderous and laced with a terrifying rage nobody in the Sterling family had ever heard before.
Vanessa stumbled back onto the aisle, nearly tripping over the hem of her train. The guests rose from their seats in uproar. Flashes from the wedding photographer’s camera flickered across her pale, horrified face.
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"David, please! She's hysterical, she's having a nightmare—" Vanessa pleaded, her voice trembling.
"Don't you dare speak another word to her," David growled, standing up and lifting Maya securely against his chest. He turned his back on his bride, his jaw set in stone. "Security! Lock the estate gates. Call the police. Now!"
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