Chapter 1 - The Box Behind the Portrait“Put that heirloom box down right now, Karen!”
David’s voice cracked through the west wing of Blackthorn Mansion like a gunshot.
Karen froze.
Her fingers were already around the brass handle of the old cedar box. The box itself was no larger than a shoebox, but it had survived four generations of the Carrow family. Its dark wood was carved with twisting vines, a silver crest set into the lid.
Karen slowly turned.
David stood at the end of the corridor.
His face had gone pale.
Behind him stood Lily.
His eight-year-old daughter was barefoot, clutching the sleeve of his shirt with both hands.
“Daddy,” Lily whispered. “Please help me. I am so scared.”
Karen stared at her.
“You're being dramatic again.”
David took one step forward.
“Put it down.”
“This doesn't concern you.”
“It concerns me when you are standing in my daughter's room holding something you were forbidden to touch.”
Karen’s jaw tightened.
“It belongs to this family.”
“So does Lily.”
The words hung in the corridor.
Karen’s eyes flicked toward the child.
Lily immediately hid behind David.
“You care more about this child than my place in this family!” Karen snapped.
“She is my daughter.”
“And I am your wife.”
“Not for much longer.”
Karen’s expression changed.
For the first time, she looked genuinely frightened.
“You wouldn't.”
David kept walking.
“What were you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“You were inside Lily's room.”
“I was looking for something.”
“What?”
Karen said nothing.
David stopped six feet away.
“Open your hand.”
“I said I was looking for something.”
“Open your hand.”
Karen slowly released the box.
It hit the carpet.
The lid popped open.
A folded black velvet cloth slid out.
Then something else.
A small silver key.
Lily gasped.
Karen lunged for it.
David grabbed her wrist.
“Don't.”
“Let go of me!”
“What is this?”
“Nothing.”
David picked up the key.
His expression changed.
He recognized the engraved symbol.
A tiny crown surrounded by three stars.
His grandfather had worn the same symbol on a ring.
“That key was supposed to be sealed with the family records.”
Karen yanked free.
“You have no idea what you're holding.”
“Then explain it.”
Karen laughed nervously.
“You'll never understand.”
David looked at Lily.
“Go downstairs.”
“But Daddy…”
“Now.”
Lily ran.
Karen watched her disappear.
Then she smiled.
It was a strange smile.
Almost relieved.
“You shouldn't have opened that box.”
David looked down.
The velvet lining had been cut.
Not torn.
Cut.
Someone had searched the box before.
He lifted the cloth.
Beneath it was a photograph.
An old photograph.
His grandfather stood in front of Blackthorn Mansion.
Beside him was a woman David had never seen before.
And in her arms was a baby.
David turned the photograph over.
There was one sentence written in faded ink.
THE FIRST HEIR WAS NEVER BURIED.
David’s stomach tightened.
“What does this mean?”
Karen stared at the photograph.
Then at him.
“You finally found it.”
“Found what?”
“The reason your family has been lying to you for thirty years.”
Before David could answer, the mansion lights suddenly went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the corridor.
Lily screamed downstairs.
David ran.
“Lily!”
A door slammed.
Then another.
David reached the staircase and found Lily standing at the bottom, trembling.
“Daddy!”
He grabbed her.
“Where is Karen?”
Lily pointed toward the dining room.
“She went that way.”
David looked over his shoulder.
Karen was gone.
The front doors were locked.
The windows were shut.
No footsteps.
No sound.
Then Lily whispered something that made David’s blood run cold.
“Daddy… there was someone else in the hallway.”
David looked down at her.
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
“What did they look like?”
Lily swallowed.
“I couldn't see their face.”
She squeezed his hand.
“But they told me…”
“What?”
“They told me to ask you why Grandma was buried twice.”
David stopped breathing.
Because his mother had been buried once.
May you like
Seven years ago.
And he had watched the coffin go into the ground.
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