Chapter 3 - The Locked East Wing
Claire returned to the mansion two days later.
Derek insisted she use a wheelchair from the SUV to the entrance, even though she could walk. A photographer waited across the street beside a white van. The moment Claire appeared, the camera began clicking.
Derek bent over her and smiled for the lens.
“Wave,” he whispered.
Claire kept both hands around Rose.
“Who called them?”
“Public interest.”
“No one knew we were coming home.”
Derek’s smile did not move.
“People are excited for us.”
Lorraine stood at the front door beside a floral arrangement large enough to hide a person. A gold sign had been placed in the foyer.
WELCOME HOME, ROSE MERCER.
Claire saw the name and felt something settle inside her.
Rose’s legal surname was Vale-Mercer.
Derek knew that.
He had argued about it for months, claiming the Vale name belonged to the past. Claire had refused to remove it, not because she distrusted him then, but because Henry Vale had built everything she owned and had asked only that the family name survive.
The sign was not a mistake.
It was an announcement of possession.
Inside the mansion, staff members lined the hall. Some smiled. Others avoided Claire’s eyes. Marta, the house manager who had worked for Claire’s father, stood near the staircase.
Unlike the others, Marta did not congratulate Derek.
She looked directly at Claire and touched two fingers to her wrist.
It was an old signal.
Claire’s mother had used it whenever she wanted Marta to call Elias without speaking.
Something is wrong.
Claire nodded once.
Derek noticed.
“What was that?”
“Marta was asking whether I needed water.”
“I can get it.”
“I asked her.”
Derek’s jaw tightened.
He pushed the wheelchair toward the stairs, but Claire placed her feet on the floor.
“My room is on the second level.”
“You’ll stay in the garden suite.”
“That room is beside your mother’s.”
“Exactly. She can help with Rose.”
“I don’t need Lorraine sleeping outside my door.”
“She is trying to support you.”
Claire rose slowly, holding Rose close.
“I’m going upstairs.”
Derek blocked the first step.
For several seconds, neither moved.
The photographer outside could no longer see them. The staff had dispersed. Lorraine pretended to adjust the flowers while listening.
Derek lowered his voice.
“The doctor said you need supervision.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“You don’t remember everything he said.”
“I recorded the discharge meeting.”
The lie came easily.
Derek’s expression shifted.
Claire continued before he could respond.
“The doctor said I was recovering normally. He also said Rose should remain with me unless I request help.”
Lorraine stepped forward.
“No one is trying to take your baby.”
Claire looked at her.
“I didn’t say anyone was.”
The older woman stopped.
Marta appeared at the top of the staircase.
“Ms. Vale’s room is ready.”
Derek looked up at her.
“I told you to prepare the garden suite.”
“And Ms. Vale told me yesterday to prepare her room.”
“I manage this household.”
Marta’s eyes remained calm.
“No, sir. You live in it.”
Claire almost smiled.
Derek did not.
He stepped aside, but as Claire passed him, he whispered, “You’re embarrassing yourself.”
She continued upstairs.
Her bedroom had changed.
The curtains were new. The small writing desk beside the window had disappeared. Her family photographs had been moved to a lower cabinet, while framed pictures of Derek covered the mantel. A security camera had been installed near the ceiling.
Claire pointed at it.
“Why is that there?”
Derek entered behind her.
“For Rose.”
“It faces the bed.”
“It covers the entire room.”
“Remove it.”
“It’s part of the new security system.”
“Then turn it off.”
“I can’t disable one camera without affecting the others.”
Claire looked at Marta.
“Can he?”
“Yes,” Marta replied.
Derek glared at her.
Claire handed Rose carefully to Marta, walked to the wall switch, and disconnected the camera’s power cable.
A red light went dark.
“There,” Claire said. “Problem solved.”
Derek left without answering.
Marta locked the bedroom door.
Only then did she return Rose to Claire.
“What happened while I was in the hospital?” Claire asked.
Marta went to the closet and removed a small black device from inside an old shoe box.
“A man came three nights ago,” she said. “Mr. Mercer let him into your father’s office. Mrs. Mercer watched the hallway.”
“What did he look like?”
“Tall. Gray coat. He carried hospital identification badges.”
Claire thought of the man who had entered her room at 4:13.
“Did you see his face?”
“No. But I heard them arguing.”
Marta activated the device.
It was an audio recorder.
A man’s voice filled the room.
“The copied signature will survive an initial review, but not a forensic examination.”
Derek answered.
“It only needs to last until the assets move.”
Lorraine spoke next.
“And the child?”
A pause followed.
Then the unknown man said, “The child changes the beneficiary structure. You should have completed this before she was born.”
Derek’s voice sharpened.
“Can it still be done?”
“Yes, but Claire must be declared temporarily incapable of managing the estate.”
Claire felt pressure building behind her eyes.
On the recording, Lorraine asked, “How difficult will that be?”
The man gave a quiet laugh.
“She just experienced major surgery. She claims strangers entered her hospital room. She is emotionally protective of the infant. With the correct physician’s report, it will not be difficult at all.”
The recording ended.
Claire held Rose closer.
“They were building a case against me before I came home.”
Marta nodded.
“There is more.”
She opened a drawer and removed a brass key.
“I found this beneath the carpet in your father’s office after they left.”
Claire recognized the engraving on its handle.
A small letter V surrounded by thorns.
Her father had used the symbol on private documents.
“What does it open?”
“The east wing.”
Claire stared toward the bedroom wall. Beyond it, past the long portrait gallery, stood the sealed section of the mansion.
Derek had forbidden staff from entering it.
“The east wing is damaged,” Claire said.
“No,” Marta replied. “It was locked by your father.”
“Why did Derek tell me there was mold?”
“Because he found the door but not the key.”
Footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Marta quickly returned the recorder to the shoe box.
Someone tried the bedroom handle.
The lock held.
Derek knocked once.
“Claire, open the door.”
She did not answer.
“I know Elias visited you at the hospital.”
Claire looked at Marta.
Derek tried the handle again.
“You have one chance to tell me what he found.”
Rose shifted in Claire’s arms.
Marta pointed toward a narrow service door hidden behind the curtains.
Claire had forgotten it existed. It connected the bedroom to an old servants’ corridor leading toward the east wing.
Derek struck the door with his palm.
Not violently, but hard enough to make his intention clear.
“Open this door.”
Claire placed the brass key in her pocket.
May you like
Then she followed Marta into the hidden corridor.
Behind them, the bedroom lock began to turn.
