Chapter 3 - The Locked Room
The key turned with surprising ease.
The heavy oak door creaked open.
Dust floated through the morning sunlight.
The room smelled of old books and cedar.
Nothing appeared unusual at first.
A massive desk.
Shelves filled with leather-bound journals.
Family photographs.
A globe standing beside the fireplace.
Then I noticed one photograph sitting alone.
Not of my father.
Not of me.
It showed Ryan.
Years younger.
Standing beside another man.
I froze.
That couldn't be possible.
Ryan had always insisted he had never met my father.
Yet there he was.
Smiling.
Shaking hands with him.
The picture was dated...
Eight months before our first date.
A chill raced down my spine.
Someone had lied.
For years.
And I had just discovered the first piece of the truth.
Before I could examine the photograph further, Henry appeared in the doorway.
His face had turned pale.
"Miss Emily..."
"You need to come downstairs."
"There are visitors."
I walked to the front window.
Three black luxury SUVs had stopped outside the gates.
Ryan stepped out first.
Behind him came his parents.
But they weren't alone.
A sharply dressed attorney carried a thick briefcase.
Ryan looked directly toward the mansion.
Then he smiled.
Not the smile of a husband trying to save his marriage.
The smile of a man who believed he had come to claim something that belonged to him.
He had no idea...
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He was walking into the only place where every lie he'd ever told was about to be exposed.
End of Chapters 1–3
