Chapter 7 - THE FOSTER MOTHER’S SECRET
Thomas Reed regained consciousness in the mansion’s former medical room.
He was thin, bruised, and nearly blind in one eye. A scar ran from his temple to his jaw.
Ellen stood outside the door, unable to enter.
“You said he was dead,” Ivy whispered.
“I believed he was.”
“That isn’t true.”
Ellen began crying.
“I needed you to believe it.”
“Why?”
Before Ellen could answer, Thomas called from inside.
“Rose.”
Ivy’s heart stopped.
Only the people connected to the photograph knew that name.
She entered.
Thomas looked at her pendant and smiled weakly.
“You kept it.”
“Who are you?”
“I was supposed to take you to Canada.”
“What?”
“The night of the fire, Margaret gave me a child and a suitcase. She told me to keep driving until I crossed the border.”
“You worked for the Whitmores?”
“I was one of their drivers.”
Ellen came in behind Ivy.
Thomas looked at his wife.
“I’m sorry.”
Ellen slapped him.
The sound echoed through the room.
“You left me with debts, police questions, and a child I couldn’t explain.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“If Sebastian knew you were involved, you would have been.”
Ivy stepped between them.
“What happened to me?”
Thomas took a slow breath.
“I drove north with you hidden beneath blankets. At a roadside motel, two men attacked us. I escaped through a bathroom window, but they took the car.”
“Who were they?”
“I never knew. When I found the vehicle, you were gone.”
Ivy felt sick.
“How did I reach the train station?”
“Margaret found you again years later.”
Ivy looked at Ellen.
Her foster mother closed her eyes.
“You knew?”
“Not at first,” Ellen said. “The state placed you with me because I had already been approved as a foster parent. Three weeks later, Margaret came to the house.”
“What did she say?”
“She told me you were in danger. She gave me money and asked me to move away from Bellhaven.”
“But we stayed.”
“I tried to leave. Every apartment application failed. Every job offer disappeared. Someone was watching us.”
Thomas reached for Ellen’s hand, but she pulled away.
“I spent years tracing the men who attacked me,” he said. “They belonged to a private security firm controlled by Sebastian.”
“Why were you in the elevator?” Julian asked from the doorway.
Thomas looked toward him.
“I returned to the estate two nights ago. Margaret contacted me.”
“Why?”
“She said Celeste had started remembering.”
“What did Margaret want you to do?”
“Open the chamber beneath the chapel.”
Sebastian, standing at the far end of the room, laughed.
“There is no chamber.”
Thomas stared at him.
“You built it.”
Sebastian’s expression hardened.
“I was twenty-three.”
“You keep using your age as if youth erases cruelty.”
Thomas struggled to sit upright.
“Margaret told me the original trust, Dr. Vale’s research archive, and proof of what happened during the fire were hidden beneath the chapel. She believed Ivy’s return would force Eleanor’s remaining allies to destroy everything.”
“Eleanor is dead,” Celeste said.
Thomas looked at her.
“No.”
The room fell silent.
Celeste gripped the edge of the bed.
“My mother died three years ago.”
“The woman buried in the Whitmore mausoleum was not Eleanor.”
Sebastian moved toward him.
“That is enough.”
Julian stepped between them.
Thomas continued.
“Eleanor Whitmore is alive.”
“Where?” Celeste asked.
“I don’t know.”
Sebastian’s calm finally broke.
“He is lying.”
Thomas smiled bitterly.
“Then why did you keep Margaret imprisoned in the east wing every time Eleanor visited?”
Celeste stared at her uncle.
“She visited this house?”
Sebastian did not answer.
A guard entered carrying a sealed envelope.
“This was found inside Mr. Reed’s coat.”
Julian opened it.
The envelope contained a key and a note written in Margaret’s handwriting.
Clara and Rose must enter together.
The chapel will only open for the blood of both sisters.
Below the note was a second line.
Do not trust the woman who raised Rose.
May you like
Ivy slowly turned toward Ellen.
Her foster mother looked just as horrified as she did.
