Chapter 2 - The Pink NoticeThe eviction wasn't about rent.
They took me upstairs.
Not to a police room.
Not to security.
To Nathaniel Graves's private office.
It was larger than our entire apartment.
Glass walls overlooked the city.
A fireplace sat beneath a painting that probably cost more than our neighborhood.
I stood beside a leather chair, feeling too dirty to sit down.
Nathaniel didn't seem to notice.
He was staring at the eviction notice.
"Where exactly did you get this?"
"My mother keeps it in a drawer."
"Why was it in your backpack?"
"I put it there this morning."
"Why?"
I looked at him.
"Because we're getting evicted."
His jaw tightened.
"Your mother received this from a Graves Energy property?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
"What's the address?"
"17 Bellamy Court."
Nathaniel stopped breathing.
I didn't know why.
He turned away.
For nearly thirty seconds, he said nothing.
Then he walked to a wall panel and entered a code.
A hidden safe opened.
Inside were folders.
Photographs.
Legal documents.
Newspaper clippings.
And one old photograph.
I couldn't see the entire thing from where I stood.
Nathaniel pulled it out.
His expression became unreadable.
"Who is this?"
He placed the photograph on the desk.
I walked closer.
There was a younger Nathaniel in the picture.
He wasn't alone.
A handsome man with dark hair stood beside him.
And a woman held a little girl.
The girl was maybe four.
I looked at the child.
Something about her face bothered me.
Not because I recognized her.
Because she looked like me.
Nathaniel noticed.
"That's my younger brother, Daniel."
I looked at the man.
"And that's his wife, Mara."
He touched the picture.
His finger stopped over the little girl's face.
"My niece."
"What was her name?"
He didn't answer.
That frightened me.
Finally he said:
"Ruby."
I laughed nervously.
"That's my name."
Nathaniel looked at me.
"I know."
My stomach twisted.
He reached for another file.
The folder was labeled:
PROJECT ORCHARD
Beneath that, handwritten in black ink:
SEALED - 12 YEARS
He opened it.
Inside was a list of tenants.
The third name was:
ELENA HART
I stared.
Then Nathaniel turned a page.
A second name appeared.
RUBY HART
My skin went cold.
"But I wasn't living there twelve years ago."
"I know."
"I wasn't even alive."
Nathaniel looked at me with an expression I couldn't read.
"You weren't supposed to be on this file."
"Why am I?"
He didn't answer.
Instead, he called someone.
"Bring me every document associated with Bellamy Court. Physical copies. All of them."
A voice answered through the phone.
"Sir, those records were destroyed."
Nathaniel's face hardened.
"I didn't ask whether they were destroyed."
Silence.
"I asked you to bring them."
He hung up.
Then someone knocked.
A woman entered.
She wore an expensive gray suit.
Her name was Margaret Vale, according to the ID badge.
General Counsel.
She looked at me.
Then at Nathaniel.
"Sir, we need to speak privately."
"No."
"Mr. Graves."
"No."
Margaret lowered her voice.
"The child is not supposed to be here."
Nathaniel's eyes narrowed.
"That's exactly why she's staying."
Margaret glanced at the pink notice.
Her face changed.
For half a second.
But I saw it.
Fear.
Nathaniel saw it too.
"Margaret."
She straightened.
"Yes?"
"Who authorized this eviction?"
"Property management."
"That's not what I asked."
She didn't answer.
Nathaniel stepped toward her.
"Who authorized it?"
Margaret finally whispered:
"The board."
Nathaniel's expression went cold.
"The board hasn't authorized anything involving Bellamy Court in twelve years."
Margaret swallowed.
"Then someone on the board is acting without your knowledge."
He looked at me.
Then back at her.
"Find out who."
Margaret left.
I thought the scary part was over.
Then Nathaniel unfolded the pink notice.
On the bottom corner was a small handwritten symbol.
A circle crossed by two lines.
Nathaniel stared at it.
"You have no idea what that means."
"No."
He sat down.
"When I was twenty-one, my brother disappeared."
I blinked.
"He didn't just disappear," Nathaniel continued. "Someone made him disappear."
The room seemed colder.
"And the same symbol was found on the last document he ever handled."
I looked at the notice.
My name was still printed on it.
Ruby Hart.
Tenant.
Nathaniel slowly raised his eyes.
"Ruby, I need you to tell me something."
"What?"
"Has your mother ever told you that your father was dead?"
I nodded.
"She says he died before I was born."
Nathaniel stared at me.
Then he whispered:
"That's impossible."
Before I could ask why, the office phone rang.
Nathaniel answered.
His secretary spoke rapidly.
"Sir, there's a problem."
"What?"
"Someone just tried to enter the building through the service elevator."
Nathaniel's eyes moved toward me.
"Who?"
The secretary hesitated.
"Someone who asked for Ruby Hart."
May you like
The line went dead.
And for the first time that day, Nathaniel locked the office door from the inside.
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