Chapter 7 - THE HOUSE THAT NEVER EXISTEDThe Vermont house looked exactly as I remembered it.

White siding.

Stone chimney.

A swing hanging from an old oak tree.

But one detail was wrong.

The front door had been replaced.

I touched the wood.

"Someone's been here recently."

Dad's security chief examined the lock.

"Multiple times."

I walked inside.

Everything felt smaller.

The kitchen.

The staircase.

The hallway where my mother used to leave notes beside my bedroom door.

I stood in her old office.

Nothing remained.

No books.

No furniture.

Just bare walls.

Then I noticed something.

The brass key.

I pressed it against a tiny lock hidden beneath the windowsill.

A compartment opened.

Inside was a cassette recorder.

And one handwritten note.

Play this alone.

Dad wanted to stop me.

I refused.

I pressed play.

My mother's voice filled the room.

"Nina, if you're hearing this, then the plan failed."

My breath caught.

"Your father believes the ledger is hidden here."

She paused.

"It isn't."

I stared at the empty wall.

"The ledger was never a book."

My mother's voice trembled.

"It is a person."

Silence.

Then:

"Someone carries the entire ledger in their memory."

I felt a chill.

"Who?"

The recording continued.

"The answer is hidden in the only name the Ashfords and Vales have protected for thirty years."

Then the recording stopped.

I searched the tape.

Nothing.

Dad looked at me.

"Do you know what she meant?"

"No."

Then a floorboard creaked upstairs.

Dad raised his weapon.

We moved silently.

The bedroom door was open.

Inside was a mirror.

Across the glass, written in red marker:

NATHAN KNOWS.

I froze.

A video began playing on my phone.

Nathan again.

This time he looked exhausted.

"Nina, if you're watching this, I need you to believe me."

"I didn't know your mother was alive."

My heart stopped.

"What?"

Nathan continued.

"She survived the crash."

I nearly dropped the phone.

"My father believed she died."

Nathan shook his head.

"I found her years later."

"She was living under another name."

"She gave me one warning."

"Never let Celeste find her."

The video paused.

Then Nathan whispered:

"But I failed."

The screen went black.

A message appeared.

YOUR MOTHER IS ALIVE.

Then another.

SHE HAS TWENTY-FOUR HOURS LEFT.

Dad looked at me.

I looked at him.

Neither of us spoke.

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