Chapter 3 - The Woman Inside the HouseThe box had no key.
I searched Lily's old jewelry cabinet.
Nothing.
I checked her desk.
Nothing.
Then I remembered something.
Lily had always hidden spare keys inside books.
She said it was too obvious.
Nobody looked twice at books anymore.
I returned to the nursery.
On the shelf sat her favorite novel.
I pulled it down.
A tiny brass key fell from between the pages.
My hands were sweating.
The lock clicked.
Inside the silver box were photographs.
Dozens of them.
Bank statements.
Printed emails.
A list of names.
And one photograph that made my stomach turn.
It showed Vanessa standing beside a man I knew.
Marcus Vale.
My father's former financial adviser.
He had resigned six months before Lily died.
Or so I thought.
The photograph had a date.
Four months before the accident.
On the back, Lily had written:
THEY HAVE BEEN WORKING TOGETHER FOR YEARS.
I spread the documents across the floor.
There were transfers from company accounts into five offshore entities.
The same companies appeared repeatedly.
And one signature appeared on nearly every authorization.
Mine.
Except it wasn't my signature.
Someone had forged it.
I grabbed my phone and called my attorney.
He didn't answer.
I called again.
Nothing.
Then I noticed a folded sheet at the bottom of the box.
Lily's handwriting again.
Ethan, I need you to understand something before you act. The theft is not the real reason they want me silent.
My heart sank.
I unfolded the second page.
I found evidence connected to the night your father died.
I froze.
My father had died three years before Lily.
A heart attack.
At least that's what everyone said.
My father's death had always been strange, but I had never questioned it deeply.
Lily had.
The third page was only one sentence.
Your father's death was investigated by someone who never told us the truth.
I heard a floorboard creak upstairs.
I quickly gathered everything.
I slipped the documents into the silver box and locked it again.
When I stepped into the hallway, Vanessa was standing there.
Barefoot.
Watching me.
“You were in the nursery.”
It wasn't a question.
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What were you doing?”
“Looking for Noah's old things.”
She smiled faintly.
“You should really let the past stay buried.”
My blood ran cold.
“Funny.”
“What?”
“That's exactly what Lily said someone would want.”
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
“Ethan…”
I walked past her.
She grabbed my arm.
“Don't do this.”
I looked down at her hand.
Then at her eyes.
“Do what?”
“Destroy this family.”
“You put Noah in a cage.”
She released me.
“I was disciplining him.”
“You locked a five-year-old in an iron cage.”
“He wouldn't listen.”
“He was trying to get his mother's teddy bear.”
“He needs to stop living in the past.”
I stepped closer.
“He needs his mother.”
Vanessa's jaw tightened.
“You have me.”
I stared at her.
“No.”
The word came out quietly.
“But he doesn't have her.”
She flinched.
For a moment I thought she might hit me.
Instead, she turned away.
That evening, I hired a private investigator.
His name was Daniel Cross.
He had worked for my father's company years ago.
He arrived after midnight.
I showed him the USB.
The photographs.
The documents.
He examined everything without saying much.
When he saw the photograph of Vanessa and Marcus, his expression changed.
“I know him.”
“I thought everyone did.”
“No.”
Daniel pointed at the date.
“Marcus disappeared the week before Lily's accident.”
“He resigned.”
Daniel looked at me.
“He didn't resign.”
“What happened?”
“He was fired.”
“By whom?”
Daniel looked down at the signature.
“Your father.”
My chest tightened.
“That was three years before he died.”
“Exactly.”
“So why was Marcus still working with Vanessa?”
Daniel didn't answer.
Instead, he picked up one document.
“This company name.”
“What about it?”
“This shell company was investigated before.”
“By whom?”
Daniel looked at me.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Then the lights went out.
The entire house fell into darkness.
Noah screamed upstairs.
I ran.
A door slammed somewhere in the house.
“NOAH!”
I reached his room.
Empty.
His blanket was on the floor.
The window was open.
My heart stopped.
Then I saw something on the pillow.
A piece of paper.
Three words.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT.
And below them was a tiny drawing.
May you like
A teddy bear.
Its eyes had been crossed out.
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