Hayden made everything quiet.
That was his new way to be mean. After he saw me smile and after I got caught in his room, he changed everything.
The next morning, the guards were new. David was still there, but two other men I had never seen before stood by the main door. They were bigger than the old ones, they did not smile at all.
I went to the kitchen for juice. The new man, he just followed me slowly. He did not say anything.
I stopped by the big window. I wanted to look outside at the garden.
"Keep moving, Mrs Vance," the new man said. His voice was low and flat.
"I'm just looking outside," I said.
"No stops," he said. "You go straight from your room to the kitchen and back. Those are the rules."
"Hayden said I could go to the library," I told him.
"The rules changed this morning," the guard said. "You are only allowed on the second floor and in the main dining area for meals. You stay in those places, David will escort you for meals. The rest of the time you stay in your room."
I felt angry. This was worse than before.
I went back up to my room. David was waiting outside my door. He looked at me but did not say hello.
"Did Hayden tell you I have to stay in my room now," I asked David.
"Mr Vance has tightened security," David said.
"He is just punishing me," I said.
David did not answer. He just looked straight ahead.
I went inside and tried to find my little secret phone. I had hidden it under the mattress. I pulled it out and turned it on. There was no signal, it was still blocked.
He did not just take my phone. He blocked the signal in my whole part of the house. I was completely cut off from the outside.
Hayden came to my room every day now, not at night. In the afternoon. He called it a check in.
He would stand by the door. I would sit on my bed.
"Are you behaving, Aliyah," he asked the first time.
"I'm not doing anything," I said. "I can't. You locked me in here."
"Good," he said. "Stay that way. We don't want any more problems with journalists."
"I'm not talking to Alex," I said.
He just looked at me. His eyes were cold. There was no emotion on his face but the coldness in his eyes was like quiet anger. It was worse than him shouting.
"Don't lie to me again," he said. "If you lie, the consequences will be immediate."
He did not shout the word consequences. He just said it simply. But it felt heavy.
He looked around the room slowly. His eyes stopped on the window. Then they stopped on the large closet.
He did that every day. He would look around the room like he was checking for something hidden.
"What are you looking for," I asked him one day.
"Evidence of communication," he said. "Any small slip up. Any little thing you have that could connect you to the outside. I will find it."
"I have nothing," I said.
"Then you have nothing to worry about," he said. But his face said I had everything to worry about.
He left quickly.
I had to find a way to talk to Alex. I could not just let him think I was safe. I needed to warn him again that Hayden was serious about hunting him.
I thought about the house staff. They were the only people who left the property.
Margaret came to my room every morning to check on me. This was part of Hayden's new rules, a daily check in with Margaret.
She was the only one who might help.
The next morning, Margaret came in with a small notepad. She wore her uniform. She looked nervous.
"Good morning, Aliyah," she said. She didn't smile like she used to.
"Margaret, I need your help," I whispered.
She shook her head fast. "I can't. Hayden changed everything. My daily report goes straight to David. I have to report exactly what you say."
"I know," I said. "But I need you to pass a message to Alex. I need to warn him that Hayden is going to hurt him."
"I can't go outside the house without reporting the reason," Margaret said. "Hayden has tightened the security on the staff too."
"You go shopping for food," I said. "You go out for other things."
"Only with a guard now," she said sadly. "We are all watched."
I felt the silence of the house getting bigger. It was a suffocating quiet, the whole house was too calm to be safe. It felt like holding my breath all the time.
Then I saw the camera in my room.
It was small. A tiny black dot. It was put in the top corner of the wall, near the ceiling. It was hidden well, i only saw it because the sun hit it just right.
I walked over to the wall. I pretended to stretch. I looked up. Yes, a small camera lens.
Hayden was not just checking in. He was watching me right now.
I moved away fast. I did not look at it again.
Now I knew everything I did in this room was being seen by Hayden or David or one of the new guards. I could not try to hide a phone. I could not write a note.
Wait. I thought about the coded notes Alex and I used before. The ones his team picked up from the kitchen.
They were in plain sight. They looked normal. That was the only way.
I looked around the room. I needed something simple that left the room every day.
Margaret had to write a report every day.
The report had to be about my state. My mood. What I asked for.
I decided to use the breakfast tray.
The trays left my room every day. The guards let the trays leave. They only checked the tray for things going in, not things going out.
I needed to write a code that looked like a normal mess.
The next morning, Margaret brought the tray. She put it on the table.
"Report, Margaret," David called from the hallway.
Margaret sighed. She went to the door. "She is quiet. She had juice and toast and she looks tired."
"Did she ask for anything new," David asked.
"No," Margaret said. "Just the usual."
Margaret came back in and started collecting the dishes.
"I'm sorry, Aliyah," she whispered. "I can't help you."
"I know," I said.
I had an idea. I took the butter knife from the tray. I spread a thin layer of strawberry jam on the side of the plate. It was just a small, pink smear. Like a mistake.
Then I used the very tip of the knife to scratch a tiny letter into the jam.
H
It looked like I had just messed up the jam. I did it very fast. I hoped Margaret would not notice.
I did not have time to do more. Margaret picked up the plate.
"What are you doing," David called from the door.
"She finished her plate, David," Margaret said. "I am taking the tray down."
"Bring it out," David said. He walked over to the door to look at the tray.
Margaret carried the tray into the hallway. I watched through the doorway.
David looked at the plate quickly. He saw the jam smear. He did not say anything. He was looking for weapons or phones, not a jam smear.
Margaret took the tray downstairs.
Now I had to wait and see if Alex's team was still watching the house. If they were, they would know H stood for Hayden.
The next day, Margaret brought the tray. I checked the butter knife. It was clean.
I had to send a real message now. A warning.
I got some sugar packets from the table. I opened one. I poured a little sugar on the tray table. I used my finger to write a letter in the sugar.
D. for danger.
I quickly wiped it away before Margaret came back in.
I decided to use the napkin. It was risky.
I went to the bathroom. I took the tiny pen from my secret phone case. The pen was small and almost useless.
I wrote on the edge of the napkin. Very small.
Hunts.
It was a single word. Hayden hunts.
I put the napkin back on the table, folded under my fork.
When Margaret came in, she picked up the napkin. She did not look at it. She put it right on the tray.
David looked at the tray again. He let it pass.
This was how I had to talk to Alex. In tiny, coded messages. Like a spy in my own home.
The next two days, I sent more messages.
Day three: Leave. Written with a pencil from my desk on a corner of a paper napkin.
Day four: Now. Written with soap on the side of a glass. I hoped the dishwasher would not wash it off before Alex's team saw it.
It was exhausting. I lived in constant fear of the camera, of David, and of Hayden.
Hayden came in for his check in every day.
"You're very quiet, Aliyah," he said.
"I have nothing to say," I told him.
"Good," he said. "Silence is safer than words."
"Is that what your father taught you," I asked.
He looked at me sharply. "You should not talk about my father."
"He is the one who took everything," I said. "He is the reason I am here. So I will talk about him."
Hayden walked closer to me. He stood right in front of me. I did not look away.
"My father is a dangerous man," Hayden said quietly. "But he is predictable. Alex Chen is not. He is only interested in destroying me. He does not care if you get caught in the blast."
"You are just telling me that to scare me," I said.
"I am telling you that because I know the truth," he said. "The truth is that you are safer in here than you are with that man. You are safe because you belong to me."
He was so calm. Too calm. The silence around him was the most dangerous thing.
He left the room. David locked the door behind him.
I was alone again. I sat by the window and looked out at the big, empty garden.
I had no idea if Alex got my notes. I had no idea if he understood them. I had no way to know if he was safe.