Chapter 2 - the locked study
Olivia moved before Ethan could look into the corridor.
She slipped behind a velvet curtain and pressed herself against the cold window. Her heartbeat seemed loud enough to betray her.
The library door opened.
Ethan stepped out.
He looked toward the ballroom, then toward the servants’ staircase.
For several seconds, he did not move.
“Is someone there?” he called.
Olivia held her breath.
Diane appeared behind him.
“Leave it.”
“I heard something.”
“There are two hundred guests in this house.”
Ethan searched the hallway once more before returning to the library.
Olivia waited until the door closed. Then she hurried downstairs and reentered the ballroom through the kitchen.
Margaret noticed her immediately.
“Where were you?”
“I needed air.”
“You look frightened.”
“I’m fine.”
Margaret studied her face.
Olivia hated lying to her. But she also knew her mother. If Margaret believed Ethan was threatening her, she would confront him immediately.
Olivia did not yet understand what Northbridge was, what statement Diane wanted signed, or why her father’s death had been mentioned in the same conversation.
She needed proof before she began a war.
“I’m just tired,” she said.
Margaret did not believe her, but a group of officers approached before she could ask another question.
Olivia spent the next hour pretending to listen to conversations.
Near midnight, the guests began to leave.
Margaret found her beside the staircase.
“Come home with me.”
Olivia glanced toward Ethan.
He was watching them.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“Mom, please.”
Margaret’s expression softened.
“I have commanded divisions with fewer secrets than you are carrying tonight.”
Olivia forced a smile.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Promise me.”
“I promise.”
Margaret placed a hand against Olivia’s cheek.
“Your father used to make promises with that same frightened look.”
Before Olivia could ask what she meant, Diane joined them.
“General Vale, your driver is waiting.”
Margaret’s hand lowered.
The two older women exchanged a look that contained years of unspoken history.
Margaret finally left.
That night, Olivia waited for Ethan to fall asleep.
At one in the morning, she walked barefoot through the silent west wing and stopped outside his study.
The new keypad glowed beside the door.
She tried their anniversary.
Incorrect.
She tried Ethan’s service number.
Incorrect.
Then she remembered the date on the message.
Northbridge had appeared in Ethan’s phone beside a six-digit code.
She entered it.
The door unlocked.
Inside, everything was arranged with military precision. Files were stacked by date. Awards lined the shelves. A framed photograph of Ethan and Diane stood beside a locked drawer.
Olivia opened his computer.
It required a password.
She looked around the room and noticed a brass box beneath the desk. Inside was a security token and a small silver key.
The key opened the drawer.
Olivia found three folders.
The first contained foundation accounts.
The second contained medical authorization forms bearing her name.
The signatures looked like hers.
They were not.
The third folder was marked NORTHBRIDGE.
Most of the pages were covered in red classification stamps. Several names had been blacked out.
One name remained visible.
Major Jonathan Vale.
Her father.
Olivia’s hands began to shake.
Jonathan had officially died in a helicopter accident while returning from a training mission. Olivia had been nine years old.
According to the document, he had not been returning from training.
He had been transporting evidence connected to unauthorized weapons transfers.
A paragraph near the bottom had been circled.
In the event of Major Vale’s death, custodial control of the evidence shall transfer to his legal heir upon the birth of the next Vale descendant.
Olivia stared at the sentence.
Her unborn child.
A sound came from the hallway.
She quickly photographed the pages.
As she reached for the final document, she saw a handwritten note beneath it.
OLIVIA MUST NEVER KNOW MARGARET SIGNED THE ORDER.
The study door opened.
Ethan stood in the doorway.
He looked at the folder in her hands.
“What have you done?”
Olivia backed away.
May you like
“What did my mother sign?”
Ethan entered and locked the door behind him.
