Chapter 5 The White Tower
Chapter 5
The White Tower
Rain began to fall as Thomas Reed's body was carried from the shattered cottage.
The gray sky blended seamlessly into the sea, turning the horizon into a blur of silver and ash.
Alexander stood alone on the porch, gripping the weathered metal box.
Twenty-six years of lies.
Twenty-six years of silence.
And now, the only witness who knew the complete truth was dead.
Yet Thomas had left behind one final clue.
The White Tower isn't inside the palace.
Those words echoed relentlessly in Alexander's mind.
"Sir."
Michael approached quietly.
"Our medical team confirmed it."
Alexander didn't look away from the ocean.
"The poison?"
Michael nodded.
"Rare."
"Fast-acting."
"It begins destroying internal organs within hours."
Alexander frowned.
"Can we identify it?"
"We're trying."
Michael hesitated before continuing.
"But the doctor said something unusual."
Alexander finally turned.
"What?"
"The poison hasn't been manufactured for over twenty years."
Silence.
"It was developed exclusively for military intelligence."
Alexander's jaw tightened.
General Victor Hawthorne.
Again.
Inside the armored convoy, Lily sat wrapped in a blanket, staring at the rain sliding down the window.
She still hadn't spoken since the attack.
Alexander climbed into the vehicle beside her.
She quietly asked,
"Is Grandpa Thomas sleeping?"
Alexander's heart ached.
"He won't wake up."
Lily lowered her head.
"People always leave."
The simple sentence carried a lifetime of pain.
Alexander gently placed a hand over hers.
"Not anymore."
She looked at him uncertainly.
"I made your mother a promise."
"You knew Mommy?"
Alexander smiled sadly.
"I knew her a long time ago."
"When she was younger than you."
Lily's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"She loved climbing trees."
"And she always stole strawberries from the royal garden."
Lily giggled despite herself.
"My mommy stole strawberries?"
Alexander laughed softly.
"Almost every summer."
"Then she blamed me."
For the first time since entering the ballroom...
Lily smiled.
And in that smile...
Alexander saw Eleanor.
Several hours later...
The convoy arrived at Sterling Manor.
The massive estate overlooked rolling green hills, protected by stone walls that had stood for nearly two centuries.
Lily stared through the gates in amazement.
"Do people really live here?"
Alexander smiled.
"Too many."
As the gates opened...
More than fifty staff members stood waiting in silence.
Housekeepers.
Gardeners.
Chefs.
Drivers.
Security personnel.
Every one of them bowed respectfully.
Not to Alexander.
To Lily.
She instinctively hid behind him.
"They're looking at me..."
Alexander knelt.
"They're welcoming you."
"I've never had people welcome me before."
Inside the mansion...
The family physician examined Lily.
Apart from exhaustion and malnutrition...
She was healthy.
Alexander quietly sighed with relief.
"She'll recover," the doctor said.
"Children are remarkably resilient."
"I'll make sure she has everything she needs."
That evening...
Alexander finally opened the remaining contents of Thomas Reed's metal box.
Michael spread everything across the library table.
Letters.
Photographs.
Newspaper clippings.
Old maps.
Then...
Michael paused.
"Sir..."
He carefully unfolded a yellowed piece of parchment hidden beneath the false bottom of the box.
Alexander leaned closer.
It wasn't a letter.
It was a map.
Drawn entirely by hand.
Across the center...
A red circle surrounded one location.
Above it...
Written in Eleanor's unmistakable handwriting...
White Tower Abbey.
Alexander frowned.
"I've never heard of it."
Michael immediately opened a digital database.
Nothing.
"No records."
"No historical landmark."
"No church."
"No abbey."
Alexander looked back at the map.
Then noticed something peculiar.
The roads didn't match any modern maps.
"This isn't current."
Michael enlarged the image.
"You're right."
"It's at least thirty years old."
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
"Overlay it."
Within seconds...
Modern satellite imagery merged with the old map.
The room fell silent.
The circled location no longer contained an abbey.
It contained...
A luxury vineyard.
Owned by...
Hawthorne Estates.
Michael slowly looked up.
"General Victor Hawthorne."
Alexander's pulse quickened.
"So he bought the land."
"Or inherited it."
Michael zoomed further.
Deep beneath the property appeared strange underground structures detected by geological surveys.
Hidden tunnels.
Ancient foundations.
Alexander whispered,
"The White Tower..."
"They buried it."
Just then...
A knock interrupted the silence.
One of the butlers entered.
"Sir."
"What is it?"
"A gentleman insists on seeing you."
Alexander frowned.
"It's nearly midnight."
"He says..."
The butler hesitated.
"...he served your grandfather."
Alexander immediately stood.
"Bring him in."
Moments later...
An elderly priest entered the library.
His black robes were soaked from the rain.
His silver hair clung to his forehead.
Despite his age...
His eyes remained remarkably sharp.
He looked directly at Lily.
Then...
He slowly fell to one knee.
"Your Highness."
The room froze.
Lily blinked in confusion.
Alexander stared.
"Father Benedict..."
The priest looked toward Alexander.
"I hoped I would live long enough to see this day."
Alexander hurried forward.
"You know who she is?"
Father Benedict nodded.
"I baptized her."
Silence filled the library.
Alexander could barely speak.
"You..."
"You were there?"
"I held her the morning she was born."
Lily looked from one adult to another.
"I don't understand..."
The priest smiled gently.
"Your real name isn't Lily."
She frowned.
"No?"
Father Benedict looked into her eyes.
"You were born..."
Princess Amelia Eleanor Sterling.
Lily's tiny hands tightened around the silver hairpin.
"My mommy..."
"...never called me that."
"Because she couldn't."
Father Benedict's expression darkened.
"Anyone who knew your true name..."
"...was hunted."
Alexander stepped closer.
"Father..."
"I need the truth."
The old priest closed his eyes for a long moment.
"When Eleanor escaped the palace..."
"I helped her."
"You?"
He nodded.
"I forged her identity."
"I burned every official record."
"I gave her the name Rose Carter."
Alexander inhaled sharply.
"So Rose wasn't her name..."
"It was mine."
Alexander looked confused.
"What?"
"My birth name."
The priest smiled faintly.
"I gave her my own family name."
"So no one could trace her."
The room became deathly still.
"For twenty-six years..."
"I've carried the guilt of surviving while she kept running."
Alexander asked quietly,
"Why didn't she come home?"
Father Benedict's eyes filled with sorrow.
"Because..."
"...she believed the palace had already fallen."
Before Alexander could respond...
The library lights suddenly flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then every screen in the room went black.
Michael instinctively reached for his sidearm.
"Power outage?"
One of the security guards ran inside.
"No, sir!"
"Our generators are online."
"Then what happened?"
The guard swallowed hard.
"Someone..."
"...hacked the entire estate."
At that exact moment...
Every monitor in the library lit up again.
Not with security footage.
But with a single image.
A silver hairpin.
The missing twelfth hairpin.
Beneath it appeared six words in bright crimson letters.
COME TO THE WHITE TOWER ALONE.
Then...
One final line slowly appeared beneath the first.
A line that made Alexander's blood run cold.
May you like
If you want your sister alive.
End of Chapter 5
