Chapter 7 - FireSmoke poured beneath the cellar door.
Daniel grabbed my hand.
"Stay close."
We ran.
Mara kicked open a narrow service door hidden behind the shelves.
A tunnel stretched into darkness.
I stared.
"Where does this go?"
"Under the road," Eleanor said.
"How do you know?"
"Because I built it."
We pushed forward.
Behind us, flames climbed through the wooden stairwell.
The smoke thickened.
My wedding dress dragged around my ankles.
I tore the skirt with my hands.
We reached the end of the tunnel.
A steel hatch opened into the woods.
We emerged into cold morning air.
I collapsed onto the wet ground.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Daniel knelt beside me.
"I'm sorry."
I shoved him away.
"You knew."
"I knew parts."
"You knew enough to marry me."
His jaw tightened.
"I married you because I loved you."
Mara interrupted.
"That's what he tells everyone."
Daniel turned.
"You don't know what happened."
"I know exactly what happened."
She looked at me.
"Daniel was investigating his father."
My anger faltered.
"What?"
"He wasn't helping his father."
"He was trying to destroy him."
I looked at Daniel.
"Is that true?"
He nodded.
"My father died six years ago."
"And you took over his company."
"Because if I didn't, the people behind it would."
I stared at him.
"Then why didn't you tell me?"
"Because every person I told became a target."
Mara stepped closer.
"I was supposed to marry him."
"And then?"
"I found out that someone inside the company was leaking information."
"Who?"
She looked at Eleanor.
"My first suspect was her."
Eleanor didn't deny it.
"Then I discovered the truth."
"What truth?"
Mara looked directly at me.
"Daniel's marriage wasn't the trap."
I felt cold.
"Then what was?"
"The bride."
I didn't understand.
Mara's voice dropped.
"Every woman Daniel married or planned to marry was chosen because she had a connection to your father."
My stomach twisted.
"But I wasn't married before."
"No."
She shook her head.
"You were different."
"How?"
"You're the only one who doesn't realize what your father left you."
Silence.
I thought of the key.
The ledger.
The photograph.
Then I remembered something.
My father had given me a music box when I was eight.
He had said:
"When you are old enough, you'll know why I kept it."
I'd forgotten about it.
Until now.
The music box was in my bedroom.
In this house.
And Daniel looked at me with horror.
"Claire..."
"What?"
He whispered:
"If they know about the music box..."
A gunshot cracked through the trees.
May you like
Mara grabbed me.
Someone had found us.
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