Ethan Sterling: Leo?
There was a soft, wet sniffle coming from behind the heavy canvas panel.
Leo: Daddy...?
Ethan’s face completely drained of color. The arrogance in his posture melted away instantly.
Clara: Oh my God! Leo! Sweetheart!
Ethan Sterling: Leo, don't move! Stay right where you are!
Ethan rushed forward, gripping the heavy gold frame with both hands, his knuckles turning white under the strain.
He lifted the massive portrait upward, revealing a small, dark maintenance crawlspace behind the decorative wall paneling.
Seven-year-old Leo was sitting inside the tight space, his small knees pulled up to his chest, his eyes red from crying.
Ethan Sterling: Don't worry, son, you're safe now.
Ethan dropped to his knees on the marble floor, reaching into the hole to pull his son into his arms.
Leo: Daddy... why did you hurt Miss Elena?
Ethan froze, holding his son against his shoulder as Clara knelt beside them.
Ethan Sterling: Leo... what were you doing in there? How did you get in the wall?
Leo: I was playing hide and seek with Uncle Richard... but the latch locked from the outside.
Clara: Uncle Richard? Your brother Richard was up here?
Leo: He told me to crawl inside the wall box so I could win the game. Then he pushed the big painting back over the door.
Clara gasped, looking up at Ethan with absolute horror in her eyes.
Clara: Richard... locked him in a closed air space?
Leo: I got scared because it was hot and dark. I couldn't breathe, Daddy. I kicked the back of the painting so hard...
Ethan Sterling: And... and Elena found you?
Leo: Miss Elena heard me crying! She tried to pull the giant painting off the wall all by herself so I could get air!
Ethan felt a cold, sickening weight drop straight into his stomach.
Leo: She was holding it up for ten minutes, Daddy! She kept telling me, "Hold on, little guy, I won't let it crush you!"
Clara covered her mouth, tears bursting into her eyes as she stared at the empty gallery hallway where Elena had been standing moments before.
Clara: You slapped her, Ethan... She was holding two hundred pounds of wood and canvas off our son's head!
Ethan Sterling: I... I thought she was tearing down the installation...
Leo: She saved me, Daddy! Why did you scream at her? Why did you hit her?
Ethan stared down at his trembling hands, the image of Elena’s bleeding lip and tear-stained face burning into his mind like hot iron.
Clara: You monster... You didn't even ask her what happened! You just hit her!
Ethan Sterling: Where... where did she go?
Clara: Where do you think she went?! She went downstairs after you treated her like trash in front of God and everyone!
Ethan pulled himself up from the floor, his body shaking with a sudden, overwhelming sense of shame.
Ethan Sterling: Stay with Leo, Clara. I have to find her.
Clara: Don't you dare come back up these stairs without fixing this, Ethan!