Chapter 5 - ELENA’S SECRET
Ethan took us to his mother’s old music room.
Nobody used it anymore.
Dominic opened the door slowly.
Dust covered the piano.
A white sheet hung over an old cello.
Framed photographs still sat on shelves as if Elena might walk back in at any moment.
Dominic stopped just inside.
He had probably avoided this room for years.
Ethan walked toward the piano bench.
“Mom used to hide my birthday presents.”
Dominic looked at him.
“Where?”
“Inside things.”
He opened the bench.
Nothing.
Then Lily wandered inside behind us.
“Pretty lady.”
She pointed toward a portrait of Elena.
Ethan smiled sadly.
“That’s my mom.”
Lily studied the painting.
“She has the same necklace.”
Dominic frowned.
“What?”
Lily pointed.
“The picture lady.”
“What necklace?”
“The one in your room.”
My heart skipped.
“Lily, what are you talking about?”
She looked at me.
“The gold one.”
“I don’t own a gold necklace.”
“Yes.”
She tugged my hand.
“The secret one.”
Dominic and I looked at each other.
“What secret one?” I asked.
“The one under your floor.”
Every adult in the room went silent.
I crouched.
“Sweetheart, what floor?”
“Our old room.”
The staff apartment.
I felt cold.
“How do you know there’s something under the floor?”
“I dropped Bunny.”
That made perfect toddler sense.
Of course.
“When?”
“Long time ago.”
Dominic grabbed his phone.
“Marco. Staff wing. Anna’s apartment. Now.”
We hurried downstairs.
Two guards removed the rug beside Lily’s old bed.
One floorboard had a tiny gap.
Marco pried it up.
Below it sat a narrow wooden box.
I stared at it.
“That was under my bed?”
“For six years,” Dominic said quietly.
Marco lifted the box.
No lock.
Inside was a gold necklace.
And a folded piece of paper.
Dominic picked it up.
His hands shook.
I noticed.
He unfolded it.
A handwritten message.
He read silently.
Then his face changed.
“What does it say?”
He handed it to me.
Dom,
If you’re reading this, something went wrong.
Do not trust the obvious enemy.
The betrayal is closer than you think.
The ledger is not on paper anymore.
I placed the key where our son would always be protected by someone who has no reason to want our power.
Trust the woman who notices what everyone else ignores.
— Elena
I read it twice.
Then looked up.
“The woman?”
Dominic stared at me.
“No.”
“What?”
“She couldn’t mean you.”
That irritated me more than it should have.
“Thanks.”
“I mean you didn’t work here when she wrote this.”
“How do you know?”
His eyes shifted.
“When did your wife die?”
“Five years ago.”
“I started six years ago.”
Dominic went still.
He looked back at the note.
Then at me.
“Elena hired you.”
I remembered my interview.
A warm woman with dark hair.
She had asked strange questions.
Did I have family?
Did I scare easily?
Would I protect a child who wasn’t mine?
At the time, I thought they were normal questions for household staff.
Now?
Not so much.
“She chose me?”
Dominic sat down slowly.
“She hired you personally.”
“Why?”
“I thought she liked you.”
“That’s not a reason to hide something under my floor.”
Marco picked up the necklace.
“There’s something inside the pendant.”
He turned it.
A tiny seam.
Dominic opened it.
Inside was a microSD card.
Nobody spoke.
Marco stared at it.
“There’s your ledger.”
Dominic took the card.
Then an alarm screamed through the mansion.
Not the main gate.
The fire alarm.
Marco grabbed his radio.
“Report!”
Static.
Then a voice.
“Smoke in the east corridor!”
Dominic’s face changed.
“The children.”
We ran.
Smoke rolled through the hallway.
“Ethan!”
Dominic shouted.
No answer.
“Lily!”
My heart exploded inside my chest.
I ran toward the family rooms.
A guard lay unconscious near the staircase.
Dominic dropped beside him.
“Marco!”
“I’ve got him.”
I kept running.
“Lily!”
Then I heard her scream.
“Mommy!”
I turned toward the service elevator.
The doors were closing.
A man stood inside.
Tuxedo gone.
Black clothes.
Gray hair.
Victor Hale.
He had one hand wrapped around Lily.
The other held Ethan.
Dominic saw him.
“NO!”
He lunged.
Too late.
May you like
The elevator doors closed.
And my daughter disappeared.
