The crystal chandeliers shook as hundreds of high-society guests toasted across the ballroom floor.

Elena wiped down the serving counter near the service wall, keeping her head low.

A muffled scratching noise tapped against the brass latch of the ancient dumbwaiter door.

Elena stopped moving and pressed her ear to the cold painted wood.

Elena: Is somebody in there?

Small Voice: Please... don't tell her. Please let me out.

Elena flicked the iron bolt open and shoved the wooden door upward with a sharp rattle.

Curled between the dusty metal ropes sat seven-year-old Leo, clutching his knees in the pitch dark.

Tears had cut pale streaks down his dust-stained face.

Elena: Sweetheart! What are you doing in the service shaft?

Leo: Dad would never find me here! She said he wouldn't look!

Elena: Hold on, I got you! Come on, reach for my hands.

Elena reached both arms into the cramped opening and gripped Leo under his shoulders.

She pulled his trembling body out onto the marble floor and scooped him up to her chest.

Victoria: Put him back right now!

Elena froze as the ice-cold voice slashed right through the dinner chatter.

Victoria stood five feet away, her cream silk dress gleaming under the lights and her eyes wide with rage.

Elena: He was suffocating in there, ma'am.

Victoria: I gave you an order, girl. Shove him back inside and shut your mouth!

Leo buried his face into Elena's starched collar, trembling so hard his shoes knocked against her apron.

Heavy leather dress shoes slammed against the polished floor, cutting straight through the banquet tables.

Victoria turned her neck, and all the color dropped out of her face like stone.

Arthur Vance stepped into the light, his jaw locked tight and his eyes burning straight into his wife.