Chapter 3 - The Woman in the PhotographThe Secret Hidden Inside a Family Name
I woke on the floor with blood running down my neck.
The first thing I heard was Lily crying.
The second was Mia shouting my name.
“Mr. Duca!”
I forced myself upright.
Mia was standing at the passage entrance.
Behind her was Grace.
Pale.
Breathing hard.
“Mia, get away from him!”
Grace ran toward us.
She dropped beside me.
“Are you hurt?”
“Who hit me?”
She didn't answer.
That was enough.
“You knew about the passage.”
Grace closed her eyes.
“I suspected.”
“That's not what I asked.”
“I didn't know it was still being used.”
“You knew there was something behind the wall.”
Her hands trembled.
“My husband told me.”
I stared at her.
“Caleb?”
She nodded.
“Before he died.”
“What did he tell you?”
Grace looked at Mia.
“Not in front of her.”
“I think we've passed that point.”
Grace swallowed.
“Caleb said someone was using the hidden rooms in this house to move documents.”
“What documents?”
“He didn't know.”
“Then why did he die?”
Her eyes filled.
“He didn't die in an accident.”
Silence.
Mia looked at her mother.
“Mama...”
Grace pressed her lips together.
“I shouldn't have said that.”
I stood.
“You need to tell me everything.”
Grace shook her head.
“No.”
“Grace.”
“No, Mr. Duca.”
Her voice changed.
It wasn't the voice of a frightened employee.
It was the voice of a woman who had spent years surviving something she couldn't explain.
“Because if I tell you, they'll know I told.”
“Who?”
She looked directly at me.
“Your brother.”
The words hit harder than the blow to my head.
“Adrian?”
Grace nodded.
My brother had always been charming.
Elegant.
Patient.
The golden child who could walk into a room full of enemies and leave with everyone believing he was their friend.
He had also been the one person my father trusted more than me.
“What does Adrian have to do with Caleb?”
“Everything.”
I stepped toward her.
“What happened?”
Grace's voice cracked.
“Caleb found a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“A financial record from your father's old development company.”
I frowned.
“That company was dissolved years ago.”
“Not all of it.”
She looked at the hidden passage.
“He found payments that were never supposed to exist.”
“To whom?”
Grace whispered three words.
“Elena Vale.”
My blood ran cold.
I pulled the photograph from my pocket.
Grace saw it.
She nearly collapsed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Behind the bookshelf.”
Her eyes locked onto the woman.
“She's alive.”
“What?”
Grace nodded.
“Caleb told me she was alive.”
“Why did every record say she was dead?”
“Because someone wanted everyone to believe it.”
“Who?”
Grace looked toward the doorway.
I followed her gaze.
Nothing.
But she continued.
“Your father.”
I stared at her.
“My father died eleven years ago.”
“I know.”
“He couldn't have hidden a woman for twenty-three years.”
“He didn't hide her.”
Grace lowered her voice.
“He hid what she knew.”
I felt something unpleasant settle in my chest.
“My father and Elena were connected?”
Grace nodded.
“And Adrian?”
“I don't know.”
She paused.
“Caleb believed Adrian was involved.”
I looked at Mia.
The little girl stood beside the desk, still holding Lily.
Her eyes were fixed on the photograph.
“What about my father?” I asked.
Grace's face crumpled.
“Caleb was going to expose them.”
“Then they killed him.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“But you suspect Vincent.”
She looked at me sharply.
“Why?”
I told her about the message.
DON'T TRUST VINCENT.
Grace's face went white.
“Then he knows.”
“Knows what?”
“That we found the room.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Grace immediately took Mia's hand.
“Get in the closet.”
I pulled the study door shut.
The footsteps stopped outside.
Then came a knock.
Three gentle taps.
Mia grabbed my arm.
“That's him.”
“Who?”
“The man.”
Another three knocks.
A voice came from outside the door.
“Mr. Duca?”
Vincent.
My security chief.
I reached for the handle.
Grace grabbed my wrist.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if Vincent is here, he's not alone.”
I listened.
There were two sets of footsteps outside.
One heavier.
One lighter.
Then Vincent said quietly,
“I know you're awake.”
My hand tightened around the doorknob.
Grace whispered,
“Don't open it.”
I looked at the hidden passage.
Then at my study.
Then at Mia.
A second voice spoke from the hallway.
Adrian.
“Brother.”
The room seemed to shrink around me.
“Open the door.”
I didn't.
Adrian laughed softly.
“You always were stubborn.”
Then he said something that made every hair on my body stand upright.
“You should never have shown Mia that photograph.”
Mia stared at me.
Her lips parted.
“I never showed him.”
Neither had I.
Which meant Adrian had known about the photograph before I even found it.
May you like
And then I realized something worse.
He knew what was hidden behind my wall.
Related Stories
