Chapter 2 - The Room Victoria Emptied)
Arthur ran upstairs.
Victoria's dressing room was empty.
So was her private closet.
Two suitcases were missing.
Her passport safe stood open.
Arthur swore.
"Evelyn, lock every gate."
"Already calling security."
"No. Don't call outside security."
She hesitated.
He remembered Grace's warning.
Don't trust the police.
"Only estate staff who've worked here more than five years."
Evelyn nodded.
Arthur turned to the children.
Maya held Noah tightly.
They looked very small beneath the enormous crystal chandelier.
Arthur had walked through that foyer almost every day for twelve years.
He suddenly hated how cold it looked.
"Come with me."
Maya hesitated.
"Where?"
"Somewhere Victoria can't get to you."
He led them toward his private study.
Noah stopped.
"Are you going to send us away?"
Arthur turned.
"No."
"Victoria said you hate kids."
Arthur felt an unexpected sting.
"She said that?"
Noah nodded.
"She said you told her we make the house look cheap."
Arthur closed his eyes briefly.
"I never said that."
Maya stared at him.
"She said our mom only works here because you feel sorry for us."
"I never said that either."
"What did you say?"
Arthur considered lying.
He didn't.
"I barely knew you were living here."
That answer hurt them more.
He saw it immediately.
Maya looked down.
Arthur hated himself for that.
Grace had worked in his house.
Her children had apparently been related to him.
And he had known almost nothing about their lives beneath his own roof.
He opened the study.
"You can stay here until I understand what's happening."
Maya walked inside.
Noah remained beside him.
"Will you find our mom?"
Arthur looked at the boy.
"Yes."
"You promise?"
Arthur hadn't made promises casually since Daniel died.
Yet this one came instantly.
"I promise."
The study door closed.
Evelyn joined him.
"Victoria's Mercedes just left through the service gate."
"How?"
"One guard opened it."
"Name?"
"Peter Lawson."
Arthur knew him.
Peter had joined the estate security team eleven months earlier.
Victoria had recommended him.
Of course she had.
Arthur called his company's chief security officer.
Then stopped before pressing send.
Who could he trust?
Grace had specifically warned him about the police.
Victoria had been preparing to flee.
His father's mysterious key had been hidden in a child's backpack.
Daniel's supposedly impossible children were standing inside his study.
Arthur looked at Evelyn.
"Tell me about Margaret."
She swallowed.
"Margaret Shaw."
"Who is she?"
"She was your father's private attorney."
Arthur frowned.
"My father's attorney was Charles Dennis."
"Publicly."
Arthur stared at her.
Evelyn continued.
"Margaret handled things your father didn't want the board knowing about."
"What things?"
"I don't know all of it."
"You've worked here thirty-two years."
"Which is why I learned not to ask."
Arthur's patience broke.
"My brother may have had two children nobody told me about. Their mother is missing. My wife assaulted them and ran from this house. Stop protecting dead men."
Evelyn flinched.
Then nodded.
"Your father and Daniel fought constantly during Daniel's last year."
"About what?"
"Victoria."
Arthur went still.
"Victoria didn't know Daniel."
"Yes, she did."
Arthur stared.
Evelyn opened a drawer in his father's old desk.
She removed a photograph.
Daniel stood outside a restaurant.
Beside him was Victoria.
Much younger.
Her arm was linked through his.
Arthur felt the room tilt.
"When?"
"Seven years ago."
"Before I met her?"
"Almost two years before."
Arthur examined the photograph.
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
Victoria was smiling.
On the back someone had written:
Daniel, Victoria, Brighton Hotel, October 14.
"Why did my father have this?"
"Because Daniel believed Victoria was stealing from Blackwood Holdings."
Arthur looked up.
"What?"
"He found irregularities in one of the family trusts."
Arthur's throat tightened.
"What trust?"
Evelyn looked toward the study where the children waited.
"The Daniel Blackwood Heritage Trust."
Arthur laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"That doesn't exist."
"It wasn't supposed to."
Evelyn sat down.
"Your grandfather created it when Daniel was sixteen. Daniel was supposed to receive control after your father's death. If Daniel had children, control transferred to them."
Arthur looked through the glass door.
Maya was sitting beside Noah on the sofa.
"If they're really Daniel's children..."
"They may own a larger portion of Blackwood Holdings than you do."
Arthur stared at the key.
317.
"What did Daniel discover?"
"Money disappearing."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
"Who controlled the accounts?"
"Your father."
Arthur's jaw tightened.
"And Victoria?"
"She worked for one of the outside firms administering them."
Arthur remembered Victoria's résumé.
Finance consultant.
London.
New York.
Geneva.
Half of it now felt like fiction.
A knock sounded.
Evelyn opened the door.
One of the house staff entered carrying an old tablet.
"We found this in Grace's room."
Arthur took it.
The screen was cracked.
Password protected.
A yellow sticky note was attached.
Maya knows.
Arthur brought it to the study.
"Maya?"
She approached.
"Your mother left this."
Maya saw the note.
Her face brightened briefly.
"She uses Noah's birthday."
Arthur entered the date.
The tablet unlocked.
Only one folder sat on the home screen.
DANIEL.
Arthur opened it.
Inside were photographs, bank statements, legal scans, and audio files.
One video sat at the top.
RECORDED YESTERDAY.
Arthur pressed play.
Grace appeared.
She was sitting in the children's bedroom.
Her face was bruised.
Arthur stared.
Grace looked directly into the camera.
"Arthur, if you're watching this, I probably didn't make it back."
Maya covered her mouth.
Grace continued.
"Maya and Noah are Daniel's children."
Arthur looked at them.
Noah began crying silently.
Grace's voice shook.
"But that's not the secret Victoria is afraid of."
She lifted a document.
"The secret is why Daniel died."
The video froze.
Then the tablet displayed:
FILE CORRUPTED.
Arthur tried again.
Nothing.
Maya whispered, "There was another video."
Arthur looked at her.
"Where?"
"Mom said she put it somewhere Victoria would never look."
"Where?"
Maya pointed toward the ceiling.
"In Mr. Daniel's room."
Arthur's blood turned cold.
May you like
Daniel's bedroom had been sealed since the funeral.
And Victoria had insisted for years that Arthur never open it.
