Chapter 3 - Someone Inside the House
Marcus locked the library doors.
Mara shut the curtains.
For the first time in my life, the mansion felt less like my home and more like a crime scene.
“Who told you?” I asked Daniel.
He laughed. “You think I’m going to give you that?”
“You signed an agreement to hide my child.”
“I signed a legal document designed to protect the family.”
“By stealing five years from me?”
“You weren’t ready to be a father.”
Lena’s face changed.
I saw it and hated him for it.
“You don’t get to decide that,” I said.
Daniel lowered his voice. “Ethan, listen to me. Do not file anything. Do not establish formal paternity. Give me forty-eight hours.”
“For what?”
“To fix this without destroying everybody.”
“Everybody except Lena.”
He hung up.
Marcus immediately checked the household staff list. Twelve employees had been inside the property since morning. Three had access to the library hallway.
The chef.
The housekeeper.
And my mother’s former assistant, Nora Bell, who had returned two months earlier to help manage the estate archives.
Mara stared at the name.
“Nora Bell?”
“Yes.”
“She was listed as a witness on a payment transfer connected to the original agreement.”
We found Nora in the east archive room.
Or rather, we found what she had left behind.
Her laptop was gone.
Her coat was gone.
A drawer stood open.
Inside was a burner phone, still warm.
Marcus handed it to Mara.
She opened the last outgoing message.
REPORT OPENED. HE KNOWS ABOUT SUCCESSION. MOVING TO PHASE TWO.
I read it twice.
“What is phase two?”
Mara looked at me. “We need to assume it involves Lena.”
I ran back toward the library.
The door was open.
Claire was still there.
The broken mug was still on the floor.
But Lena was gone.
Her chair was empty.
On the table, under the signed agreement, someone had left a folded note.
I opened it with shaking hands.
It contained only six words.
May you like
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT HER FORGOTTEN.
