And there they found more people.
Three elderly men.
Two women.
A teenage girl.
And a young mother holding a baby.
All of them were hiding.
All of them looked terrified.
The police immediately called for medical assistance.
But before anyone could leave, the young mother suddenly grabbed one officer's arm.
“Please don't tell them we're here.”
“Who?”
She looked toward the entrance.
“The men who brought us here.”
The officer's expression changed.
“What men?”
The woman began shaking.
“They know this place.”
That sentence changed everything.
The police had originally thought they were investigating a strange woman buying enormous quantities of meat.
Now they were looking at something much bigger.
Lidia finally began telling them the truth.
Months earlier, she had discovered her grandson hiding near the abandoned building.
He had disappeared after his mother became involved with people who were involved in criminal activity.
Lidia had spent months searching for him.
When she finally found him, she discovered that he wasn't alone.
There were other people hiding there.
People who were afraid to contact the authorities.
People who believed they would be found if they went outside.
Lidia had wanted to take them somewhere safe, but she had no money and no way to transport them all.
So she began bringing food.
At first, it was only a few kilos.
Then more people arrived.
The amount increased.
Eventually, she was buying sixty kilos of meat at a time.
The butcher, Ovidiu, had noticed the strange behavior.
He had asked her several times what she was doing with so much food.
Lidia always gave the same answer.
“My family is visiting.”
But there was no family.
Her son had been dead for years.
She had been saying it because she was terrified that someone would ask too many questions.
Then one morning, something happened that made her realize she could no longer keep the secret.
A black car stopped near the abandoned building.
Two men got out.
They didn't enter.
They simply stood outside for several minutes, watching.
Lidia saw them from a window.
She immediately ran inside and warned everyone.
“Don't make a sound.”
The men eventually left.
But Lidia knew they had discovered something.
That's why she became even more frightened.
And that's why, on the fourth day, when Ovidiu finally called the police, she begged them not to open the door.
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