Chapter 4 - the room behind the library
The next morning, Ethan used the spare key Margaret had given him years earlier and opened the locked cabinet.
The letters were gone.
Only the empty ribbon that had tied them together remained.
Margaret stood beside him, pale and motionless.
“I should have checked sooner.”
“You trusted her,” Ethan said.
“She spent an hour looking through family photographs. I went to make tea.”
“Did you see her near the cabinet?”
“No.”
“But she knew where it was.”
“I told her.”
Ethan closed the door carefully.
He did not want anger to control him before he had proof.
“We need to ask Serena directly.”
Margaret touched his arm.
“She will say I am accusing her because I don’t want the wedding.”
“Do you want the wedding?”
The question hung between them.
Margaret chose her words carefully.
“I want you to marry someone who protects your heart when you are not in the room.”
Ethan looked away.
Serena had been charming when they met at a charity auction eighteen months earlier. She remembered names, sent handwritten notes, and seemed fascinated by the quieter parts of his life.
But after the engagement, small things had changed.
She stopped visiting Margaret.
She complained when Ethan spent Sundays at his mother’s house.
She suggested selling the family garden because the land was worth millions.
Each moment had seemed minor when considered alone.
Together, they formed a pattern Ethan had refused to see.
“I’m going to the hotel,” he said.
“I’m coming with you.”
At the Whitmore Grand, Serena was not in her suite.
Lila answered the door.
The young assistant’s eyes widened when she saw Margaret.
“Mr. Vale.”
“Where is Serena?”
“At a fitting.”
“Which fitting?”
Lila glanced down the corridor.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“Did Serena take letters from my mother’s house?”
Lila’s face drained of color.
“No.”
Margaret watched her hands.
They were shaking.
“Lila, you dropped a protocol with my name on it.”
“I’m sorry.”
“What does it mean?”
“I can’t talk here.”
Ethan looked around the corridor.
“Then where can you talk?”
Lila swallowed.
“There is an old library on the fifth floor. Behind the west shelves, there’s a storage room without cameras.”
“Meet us there in ten minutes.”
“I can’t.”
“You can,” Margaret said gently. “Whatever they threatened you with, we can help.”
Lila’s eyes filled with tears.
“They did not threaten me.”
“Then why are you afraid?”
Before Lila could answer, the elevator doors opened.
Celeste Whitmore stepped out with Oliver Grant.
Celeste wore a cream suit and carried a cane she did not need. Oliver’s gray gloves were folded over one hand.
“What a lovely surprise,” Celeste said.
Ethan turned.
“Where is Serena?”
“Preparing for your wedding.”
“Did your office submit a forged continuity certificate?”
Celeste’s smile did not move.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
Oliver spoke calmly.
“All legal matters are handled through counsel.”
“Are you Serena’s wedding coordinator or her legal consultant?” Ethan asked.
Oliver’s expression remained neutral.
“I solve problems for the Whitmore family.”
Margaret saw Lila move backward into the suite.
Celeste noticed as well.
“Lila, your presence is required downstairs.”
Lila hesitated.
Margaret met her gaze.
The young woman gave the smallest nod before closing the door.
Celeste turned back to Ethan.
“Your mother appears to be creating unnecessary tension.”
“My mother’s letters were stolen.”
“How unfortunate.”
“They were used to forge her signature.”
Celeste’s eyes moved briefly toward Margaret.
“If you intend to accuse my daughter, you should bring evidence.”
“We will.”
Ethan took Margaret’s arm and walked toward the elevator.
As the doors began to close, Oliver lifted one gloved hand and touched the small thorn-shaped pin on his lapel.
Margaret froze.
It was the exact symbol Richard had drawn beneath his signature.
The doors closed before Ethan saw it.
Ten minutes later, they entered the fifth-floor library.
The west shelves stood open.
The hidden storage room was empty.
May you like
On the floor lay Lila’s hotel identification card.
Beside it was a single red rose with its stem broken in half.
