Chapter 4 - THE RED ENVELOPE
Sterling stayed twenty minutes.
He asked harmless questions.
How Willa was adjusting.
Whether Everett’s condition had changed.
Whether she needed anything.
Every word sounded friendly.
Every question felt like a trap.
Finally, he walked to the door.
“Oh, Willa?”
“Yes?”
“If Everett ever does anything unusual, you tell me first.”
She smiled.
“Of course.”
After he left, Willa waited.
Then whispered, “He knows something.”
Everett twitched once.
She needed to reach his office.
At 2:00 a.m., Rosa entered with clean linens.
Willa stopped her.
“Rosa.”
The maid stiffened.
“I need Everett’s office key.”
“I don’t have it.”
“You know who does.”
Rosa looked toward the hallway.
“Please don’t ask me.”
“Why?”
“Because people who ask questions here stop working here.”
Willa studied her.
“What happened to the last night nurse?”
Rosa’s face changed.
“What night nurse?”
“That answer tells me there was one.”
Rosa looked away.
Willa lowered her voice.
“If Everett wakes up, Sterling loses control of this house.”
Rosa whispered, “Mrs. Kane…”
“Help me.”
Rosa said nothing.
But when she left, a small brass key remained beneath the folded sheets.
At 3:17 a.m., Willa slipped into the hallway.
Everett’s office was at the end of the west wing.
She unlocked it.
The room smelled like leather and cedar.
Family photographs lined one wall.
Everett with his father.
Everett shaking hands with union leaders.
Everett standing beside Sterling at a charity dinner.
Willa searched the desk.
Nothing.
Then she remembered.
Red.
She opened drawers.
Black folders.
White envelopes.
A locked compartment.
No red.
Footsteps sounded outside.
Willa crouched.
The handle moved.
Locked.
Someone tried again.
She held her breath.
Then footsteps faded.
Willa searched underneath the desk.
Her fingers found tape.
A red envelope was attached beneath the central drawer.
She pulled it free.
Inside were copies of bank transfers.
Millions of dollars moving from Kane Transportation to shell companies.
One name appeared repeatedly.
S.K. Holdings.
Sterling Kane.
There was also a handwritten note.
If anything happens to me, investigate Sterling first.
—E.K.
Willa’s heart slammed against her ribs.
Another document was stapled behind it.
A private toxicology report.
Everett had apparently ordered blood tests two weeks before his car crash.
The results showed trace levels of a rare sedative.
He had already suspected someone was drugging him.
Then Willa saw another name.
Dr. Alan Whitfield.
Consulting physician.
“What the hell?”
A floorboard creaked behind her.
Willa turned.
Mr. Crowley stood in the doorway.
She froze.
He looked at the papers in her hand.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Crowley closed the door.
“You should have burned that when you found it,” he said.
Willa backed away.
“Are you with Sterling?”
Crowley’s expression darkened.
“No.”
“Then why didn’t you help Everett?”
“Because I have a daughter.”
Willa stared.
Crowley lowered his voice.
“Sterling knows where she lives.”
He looked at the red envelope.
“And if he finds out you have that, your mother will be next.”
Willa’s blood turned to ice.
“How do you know about my mother?”
Crowley’s answer was barely a whisper.
May you like
“Because Sterling had her moved this morning.”
Cliffhanger: While Willa was searching for evidence, Sterling had taken the one person she had sacrificed everything to protect.
