Chapter 2 - The Photograph Vanessa Tried to Burn
Elena locked the bedroom door.
Julian watched her with solemn curiosity while rain beat against the small window.
“Where did you find this?”
“In Mommy’s blue room.”
“What blue room?”
“The room she says doesn’t exist.”
Elena looked again at the photograph.
The image was grainy and badly faded, but the woman was unmistakable. Vanessa appeared younger, with straight blonde hair tied at the nape of her neck. She wore a white nurse’s coat and a St. Catherine’s Hospital identification badge.
Behind her stood a medical trolley.
Beyond that, partly visible on the hospital bed, was a woman’s hand.
A thin silver ring encircled one finger.
Elena wore the same ring.
Her grandmother had given it to her before she died. Elena had kept it through labor, despite a nurse ordering her to remove all jewelry.
“Who took this picture?” she asked.
Julian shrugged.
“It was inside an envelope.”
“Do you have the envelope?”
He nodded and pulled it from beneath his pajama shirt.
There was no address. Only a sentence written in blue ink.
For Adrian, when the boy begins to remember.
Elena read it twice.
“Does your father know about the blue room?”
“Daddy doesn’t know lots of things.”
The answer was too old for a six-year-old.
Elena crouched in front of him.
“Julian, why did you bring this to me?”
His fingers tightened around the toy horse.
“Because you were in my dream.”
“What dream?”
“The one with the white lights.”
A chill moved down Elena’s back.
He spoke slowly, staring at the floor.
“There was a loud beeping sound. A lady was crying. Someone carried me away. I could hear the lady shouting, but then another lady covered my face.”
Elena’s throat closed.
“Children dream many strange things.”
“She called me Gabriel.”
Elena gripped the edge of the desk.
Gabriel.
That was the name she had chosen for her unborn son.
She had written it in the small blue notebook she carried to every prenatal appointment. She had told the father once, before he disappeared from her life. She had told her mother and Mateo.
No one else knew.
Julian looked up.
“Is Gabriel me?”
Elena forced air into her lungs.
“I don’t know.”
“Mommy gets angry when I say it.”
Before Elena could ask more, footsteps approached in the hallway.
Julian flinched.
“Hide it.”
Elena slipped the photograph and envelope beneath her mattress.
The door handle turned.
Vanessa tried it once, then knocked.
“Elena?”
Elena opened the door only far enough to stand in the gap.
Vanessa looked past her.
“Is Julian here?”
The boy appeared beside the bed.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
Vanessa’s expression remained calm, but a pulse moved beneath her jaw.
“I told you never to come to this floor.”
“He was frightened,” Elena said.
“I did not ask you.”
Vanessa held out her hand.
“Julian, come.”
He did not move.
Vanessa’s smile sharpened.
“Your father will be home tomorrow. Do you want him to hear that you disobeyed me?”
Julian’s face changed at the mention of Adrian. Not fear. Longing.
He walked to Vanessa.
As she turned away, she glanced at Elena’s bed.
The glance lasted less than a second.
It was enough.
Elena waited until their footsteps disappeared. Then she removed the photograph and tucked it inside the lining of her suitcase.
Twenty minutes later, smoke slid beneath her door.
She woke coughing.
Orange light flickered near the wardrobe.
Her suitcase was burning.
Elena seized the water pitcher from her bedside table and threw it over the flames. The fire hissed but did not die. She dragged the suitcase into the tiled bathroom and shoved it beneath the shower.
The fire alarm never sounded.
Mrs. Harrow arrived with two footmen.
“What happened?” the housekeeper demanded.
“Someone set my suitcase on fire.”
Mrs. Harrow inspected the room.
“There is no sign anyone entered.”
“My door was unlocked after Julian left.”
“You may have left a candle burning.”
“There are no candles in this room.”
Mrs. Harrow’s expression revealed nothing.
Vanessa appeared in the hallway wearing a cream robe.
“What is all this noise?”
Elena watched her carefully.
“My suitcase caught fire.”
“How unfortunate.”
Vanessa looked toward the wet, smoking luggage.
“Did you lose anything valuable?”
The question was too deliberate.
“No.”
Vanessa smiled.
“Then consider yourself lucky.”
When everyone left, Elena pulled the damaged suitcase apart.
The photograph was gone.
The envelope remained, half burned beneath the lining.
For Adrian, when the boy begins to remember.
Elena took her phone from the nightstand and photographed the message.
Then she noticed something else.
A small brass key had fallen from the envelope.
The key was stamped with the number 317.
The next morning, she asked Mrs. Harrow whether Blackthorn Manor had a room 317.
“No.”
“Does the number mean anything to you?”
Mrs. Harrow’s hands stopped over the breakfast tray.
Only for a moment.
“No.”
Elena carried Julian’s breakfast upstairs.
The child’s room was empty.
His bed had been stripped. The curtains were open. One suitcase lay near the door.
Vanessa stood beside the fireplace.
“Where is he?”
“At the family’s country property.”
“Why?”
“He needs rest.”
“Without his father?”
Vanessa turned.
“Your concern for my son is becoming inappropriate.”
“He told me about a hospital.”
Vanessa’s face stayed still.
“He told me someone called him Gabriel.”
The fire snapped behind her.
Vanessa crossed the room and closed the door.
“You lost a child,” she said. “The agency disclosed it.”
Elena felt suddenly exposed.
“They had no right.”
“They had every right. You were seeking employment around a young boy. Emotional instability matters.”
“I am not unstable.”
“You arrived here, saw a wealthy child, and decided he resembles the baby you lost. Do you understand how dangerous that sounds?”
“He knew the name Gabriel.”
“Perhaps you spoke it in your sleep.”
Elena stared at her.
Vanessa lowered her voice.
“Listen carefully. My husband is a powerful man. He protects his family without mercy. If you fill Julian’s head with fantasies, Adrian will make certain you never work in this country again.”
“Why were you at St. Catherine’s Hospital?”
The silence between them became absolute.
Vanessa’s eyes shifted.
“You saw the photograph,” Elena said.
Vanessa approached until only inches separated them.
“You should have burned with it.”
Then she smiled and opened the door.
“Your employment is terminated. Mrs. Harrow will escort you from the property.”
Elena did not move.
“Where is Julian?”
“You will never see him again.”
Elena looked beyond Vanessa toward the fireplace.
Among the burning logs, something metallic reflected the flames.
Julian’s hospital identification bracelet.
Before she could reach it, a black car stopped outside the window.
May you like
A tall man stepped onto the gravel drive.
Adrian Blackthorn had come home.
