Chapter 3 - Daniel's Locked Bedroom)
The key to Daniel's bedroom still hung inside Arthur's private safe.
Arthur had not touched it in six years.
After Daniel's funeral, their father had ordered the bedroom closed.
Arthur had obeyed.
Not because he believed in preserving rooms like monuments.
Because entering it hurt too much.
Daniel had been older by four years.
More reckless.
More stubborn.
More willing to challenge their father.
Arthur had spent most of his twenties competing with him.
Then Daniel died.
And every argument became permanent.
Arthur unlocked the door.
Dust had been cleaned regularly through a second service entrance, but otherwise the room remained nearly untouched.
Daniel's books still lined the shelves.
His guitar remained beside the window.
A photograph of Daniel and Arthur from college sat on the nightstand.
Arthur stared at it.
Maya entered behind him.
"You look younger."
Arthur almost smiled.
"I was."
Noah pointed.
"Is that our dad?"
The question landed harder than Arthur expected.
He knelt beside them.
"If the letter is true, yes."
Maya studied the photograph.
"Mom showed us another one."
Arthur looked at her.
"Grace told you who he was?"
"She said his name was Daniel."
"Did she say he was your father?"
Maya shook her head.
"She said she'd tell us when it was safe."
Arthur looked away.
Safe.
Apparently nobody associated with Daniel had been safe.
"What did your mother hide here?"
Maya walked toward the bookcase.
"She told me there was a book Dad never finished."
Arthur watched her pull a leather-bound copy of The Count of Monte Cristo from the shelf.
Inside, pages had been carved away.
A flash drive rested in the hollow.
Arthur stared.
Daniel's favorite novel.
Grace had known.
He inserted the drive into an offline laptop.
There were four files.
One photograph.
Two spreadsheets.
One video.
And one audio recording.
Arthur opened the video.
Grace appeared again.
This time she was sitting in a parked car.
"Arthur, the official story says Daniel and Caroline died alone."
She paused.
"That's false."
Arthur leaned closer.
"The night of the crash, Caroline had already given birth."
Maya squeezed Noah's hand.
"Twins. Maya and Noah."
Arthur's vision blurred.
Grace continued.
"Caroline contacted me because she was afraid. She believed somebody inside the Blackwood family planned to take the babies."
Arthur whispered, "Why you?"
Grace answered as if she had heard him.
"I was Caroline's maternity nurse before I became a housekeeper."
Arthur looked at Evelyn.
She nodded slowly.
"I knew that much."
Grace continued.
"Daniel asked me to hide the children for seventy-two hours while he confronted your father about money missing from the trust. He told me if anything happened, I was to raise them under my surname."
Arthur swallowed.
"Then the crash happened."
Grace's eyes filled with tears.
"Daniel died."
She hesitated.
"Caroline didn't."
Arthur stood so fast the chair fell behind him.
Maya gasped.
Grace continued.
"Caroline survived long enough to reach a private clinic. Somebody removed her from the hospital before police arrived."
Arthur's heart hammered.
"Who?"
Grace's face hardened.
"Victoria."
Noah whispered, "She knew our mom?"
Arthur said nothing.
The video continued.
"Victoria worked for Daniel before she ever met Arthur. Daniel believed she had helped create false accounts connected to the trust. But Victoria wasn't working alone."
Grace held up a photograph.
Arthur recognized his father.
Charles Blackwood.
Standing beside Victoria.
Grace said, "Your father knew."
Arthur stared.
Evelyn whispered, "Dear God."
"After Daniel died, Charles ordered me never to mention the children. He said Victoria had powerful people behind her. He promised he would fix everything."
Grace looked down.
"He never did."
Arthur felt years of memories rearranging themselves.
His father's obsession with secrecy.
The unexpected marriage proposal Victoria had pushed Arthur toward.
The strange urgency surrounding their prenup.
Daniel's locked room.
Grace's transfer from a hospital position into household employment.
Everything had been placed around him like scenery.
Grace continued.
"Three months ago Charles contacted me from hospice."
Arthur stiffened.
His father had died eight weeks earlier.
"He told me Victoria had started moving trust assets again. He gave me the Union Central key. Vault 317."
Arthur looked at the brass key.
"Inside is the original Daniel Heritage Trust, DNA evidence, Caroline's medical records, and something Charles called the Red Ledger."
Grace's expression became frightened.
"I don't know what's in that ledger."
The recording suddenly shook.
Grace looked over her shoulder.
A car had appeared behind her.
"If Victoria learns I have the key, she'll come for the children."
Arthur's hands tightened.
Grace whispered one final sentence.
"Do not go to the police until you see what's inside 317."
The video ended.
Silence.
Evelyn looked at Arthur.
"What do we do?"
Arthur picked up the key.
"We go to Union Central."
Noah stood.
"We're coming."
"No."
"It belongs to our dad."
Arthur looked at him.
The boy's expression was stubborn.
Daniel's expression.
Arthur almost laughed from the pain of it.
"You two are staying here."
Maya shook her head.
"Victoria knows this house."
Arthur stopped.
She was right.
If Victoria had lived here for five years, Blackwood Manor was not protection.
It was a map she knew better than anyone.
Arthur called someone he had not spoken to in almost a decade.
"Samuel Reed."
The voice on the other end sounded surprised.
"Arthur?"
"I need help."
Samuel had been Daniel's closest friend.
A federal prosecutor once.
Now a private attorney famous for refusing powerful clients.
Arthur explained only enough.
There was a long silence.
Then Samuel said, "Get out of the house."
"Why?"
"Because if Grace left you vault 317, Victoria isn't your biggest problem."
Arthur looked toward the children.
"What does that mean?"
Samuel's answer came quietly.
"It means someone from the Blackwood board has been waiting six years for those children to surface."
The bedroom lights went out.
Maya screamed.
May you like
Somewhere downstairs, glass shattered.
Then the mansion security alarm died.
