Chapter 7 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Isabella left the ballroom through a side door, gripping the photograph.
Elena followed.
Julian and Cross were only steps behind her, but security guards blocked the corridor. None appeared to know that Marcus had been arrested. They followed Isabella’s standing orders without hesitation.
“No staff beyond this point,” one guard said.
Julian stepped forward.
“I am not staff.”
“Mrs. Valmont’s orders apply to everyone.”
Elena slipped through a service door while Julian argued with them.
She entered a narrow passage running parallel to the corridor. Through decorative vents, she watched Isabella hurry toward the private office.
Isabella locked herself inside.
Elena climbed onto a storage shelf and looked through the highest vent.
The office contained no visible telephone, yet Isabella opened an antique cabinet and removed a satellite device.
She entered a number.
A man answered after one ring.
“You told me Samuel died,” Isabella said.
Elena held her breath.
The voice on the device was distorted.
“I told you he could no longer threaten you.”
“The photograph was taken last month.”
Elena’s heart slammed against her ribs.
The hidden photograph inside the locket was recent.
“Where?” the man asked.
“I don’t know. There is a sign behind him. Saint Orison.”
The line became silent.
Isabella continued.
“Mara knew he was alive. She placed this photograph in the locket before her death.”
“Mara is dead.”
“Her daughter is here.”
“Then correct your mistake.”
“I tried. Cross is involved.”
The man swore.
“You allowed Adrian Cross into the mansion?”
“He came without a warrant.”
“Get the document and leave.”
“What document?”
“You still don’t understand, do you?”
The man’s voice sharpened.
“The paper Mara brought to the mansion was not merely a birth record. Samuel wrote a confession on the final page.”
“A confession to what?”
The office door opened.
Cross entered with his weapon raised.
“Put the device down.”
Isabella turned.
Elena crawled out of the passage as Julian followed Cross inside.
The voice on the satellite device said one final sentence.
“Ask your mother what she did beneath the lake.”
Then the connection ended.
Cross took the device.
Isabella regained her composure almost instantly.
“You entered my private office illegally.”
“I heard you discussing the murder of Elena Maren.”
“I was speaking to a security consultant about hypothetical threats.”
Elena walked toward her.
“Show me the photograph.”
“No.”
Cross held out his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“Do you have a warrant?”
“No.”
“Then leave.”
“You are obstructing an investigation into kidnapping, attempted murder and the disappearance of Gregory Ashford.”
Isabella’s face remained still.
Julian noticed.
“My father’s name wasn’t mentioned until now.”
Cross glanced at him.
“I found Gregory’s watch in Marcus Vale’s vehicle.”
Julian stared at Isabella.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You told me he was in Prague.”
“That was what I was told.”
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
“You forged his messages.”
“Be careful what you accuse me of in my own home.”
Julian’s grief became anger.
“This was never your home.”
Isabella slapped him.
The sound cracked through the office.
Elena caught Isabella’s arm before she could strike him again.
For an instant, the future confrontation in the ballroom seemed to take shape between them.
Isabella pulled free.
“You are both ungrateful children defending dead parents who lied to you.”
“My mother protected me,” Elena said.
“Your mother stole you.”
“She saved me from you.”
“You believe Celeste’s sentimental version because it makes you an heiress. Did she tell you Mara was paid?”
Elena hesitated.
Isabella smiled.
“Mara accepted money from this family.”
“For what?”
“To disappear with you.”
“That’s a lie.”
“Ask Cross.”
Elena turned.
Cross did not answer quickly enough.
“You knew?” she asked.
“Mara received money,” he said carefully. “But we never established why.”
Isabella opened a desk drawer and removed an old banking record.
“Mara threatened to expose Eliana’s pregnancy unless my father paid her. She took the child and half a million dollars.”
Elena examined the record.
The account carried her mother’s name.
Cross said, “This proves a transfer. Not blackmail.”
“It proves Saint Mara was not the selfless protector Elena imagined.”
Elena fought to keep her voice steady.
“Give me the photograph.”
Isabella looked at her.
“No. But I will give you a choice.”
She placed the banking record on the desk.
“Leave this mansion before midnight and I will tell you where Samuel is.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No. I expect you to decide whether revenge matters more than meeting your father.”
Elena stared at her.
“You said Samuel was dead.”
“I believed he was.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Nothing compared with what Celeste did.”
Isabella looked toward the door.
“Ask her about the lake.”
A low explosion shook the mansion.
The chandeliers trembled.
Smoke rose beyond the windows from the chapel grounds.
Julian ran toward the corridor.
May you like
The hidden chamber beneath the chapel was on fire.
And Celeste was still inside.
