Chapter 4 - The East Wing
Someone grabbed my arm in the dark.
I swung hard.
My elbow connected with a chest.
“Elena!”
Marcus.
“Sorry.”
“Stay down.”
A crash came from the hallway.
Then a gunshot.
People screamed downstairs.
Dominic shouted, “Emergency lights!”
Red lights flickered on along the baseboards.
The library looked like a room underwater.
Cassandra was gone.
The chair where she'd been sitting was empty.
Marcus cursed.
“How?”
One of the guards checked the side door.
“Service passage.”
Dominic stared at it.
“That passage was sealed.”
“Apparently not.”
Marcus touched his earpiece.
“Team Three, cover the south hall. Nobody leaves the property.”
I backed toward the wall.
“This is insane.”
Dominic looked at me.
“You need to stay with Marcus.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“Every time someone tells me I'm safe, something worse happens.”
A sound came from inside the wall.
Three knocks.
Then silence.
Marcus looked toward the bookcase.
“What was that?”
I knew.
I didn't know how I knew.
But I did.
I walked toward the shelves.
“Elena, stop.”
My fingers moved across the wood paneling.
One carved ivy leaf felt different.
I pressed it.
Click.
A narrow section of the bookcase opened.
Cold air rushed out.
Dominic stared at me.
“How did you know?”
I didn't answer.
Because I was remembering something.
A lullaby.
Darkness.
Smoke.
A woman's voice whispering, Don't cry, sweetheart.
I stepped into the passage.
Dominic grabbed my wrist.
“Not alone.”
The passage led behind the library walls.
Dust covered the floor.
Old electrical wires hung from the ceiling.
We moved single file.
Marcus first.
Me second.
Dominic behind me.
After twenty yards, the passage split.
One tunnel led toward the kitchen.
The other toward the sealed East Wing.
There were footprints in the dust.
Fresh.
Marcus crouched.
“Cassandra.”
We followed them.
At the end was an iron door.
No handle.
Only a circular indentation surrounded by engraved ivy.
Dominic looked at my necklace.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“No way.”
“Elena.”
“My mother told me never to let anyone take it.”
“Then don't.”
He pointed toward the door.
“You use it.”
My fingers shook as I pressed the locket into the indentation.
It fit perfectly.
There was a mechanical click.
The door opened.
The smell hit me first.
Old smoke.
Burned wood.
Dust.
Something inside my chest broke open.
I saw flashes.
A white crib.
Flames crawling up curtains.
A woman screaming.
A man wearing a gold ring.
I stumbled.
Dominic caught me.
“What happened?”
“I've been here.”
He stared at me.
“That isn't possible.”
“I've been here.”
We entered the East Wing.
Most of it had been restored structurally but left untouched.
Black marks still scarred the walls.
At the end of the hall was a nursery.
The door stood open.
Inside, someone had recently moved through the dust.
A chair had been pulled toward the wall.
Marcus aimed his flashlight.
“There's something behind it.”
We moved the chair.
A small safe was built into the plaster.
Same ivy pattern.
Same locket-shaped keyhole.
I inserted the necklace.
The safe opened.
Inside were photographs.
Documents.
A tiny pink baby bracelet.
And a VHS tape.
Dominic picked up the bracelet.
His face crumpled.
Printed across it were the words:
SOPHIA ROSE STERLING.
I reached for a photograph.
Lucia stood in front of Sterling Manor.
Young.
Beautiful.
Wearing a maid’s uniform.
She was holding a baby.
Me.
On the back, someone had written:
Lucia—if anything happens to me, take Sophia and run.
The signature underneath was one Dominic recognized immediately.
May you like
He whispered it.
“My mother.”
