Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN IN THE PORTRAITThe alarm echoed through the mansion.
Security guards rushed toward the basement.
Guests backed away from the walls.
Victor stared at Richard.
For a moment, neither brother spoke.
Then Richard laughed.
A cold, controlled laugh.
“This is absurd.”
Victor didn't blink.
“You opened my archive.”
“I have no idea what you're talking about.”
“You're lying.”
Richard's eyes moved toward Chloe.
“Perhaps the child has been coached.”
Chloe frowned.
“No.”
Richard smiled.
“You don't understand what you're accusing me of.”
“I understand perfectly.”
The little girl's voice was calm.
“I saw you.”
Richard's face changed.
“You saw me doing what?”
“Putting the box under your coat.”
The ballroom went silent.
Victor looked at Marcus.
“Search him.”
Richard immediately stepped backward.
“You dare?”
Victor didn't answer.
Two guards approached.
Richard's face hardened.
Then he suddenly reached inside his jacket.
Everyone screamed.
But he pulled out a small black notebook.
Victor recognized it instantly.
Amelia's diary.
The same diary Victor had believed disappeared the night she vanished.
He stepped closer.
“Where did you get that?”
Richard said nothing.
Victor snatched it away.
The cover was worn.
A silver letter A had been engraved on it.
He opened the first page.
Amelia's handwriting.
Father thinks the truth is dangerous.
Victor's breath caught.
He turned the page.
But the truth is only dangerous when the wrong person knows it.
Another page.
If anything happens to me, look beneath Mother's portrait.
Victor froze.
His mother had died fifteen years earlier.
Her portrait hung in the east gallery.
Victor ran.
The crowd followed.
He reached the portrait and tore it from the wall.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside sat a small wooden box.
Victor's hands trembled.
He opened it.
A photograph.
Three people.
Amelia.
Nora.
And a newborn baby.
Victor stared.
The photograph was dated twenty years earlier.
On the back was one sentence.
My daughter survived.
Victor turned slowly.
His eyes met Nora's.
“You knew.”
Nora's eyes filled with tears.
“I was trying to protect her.”
“From whom?”
Nora looked at Richard.
“From your family.”
Richard stepped forward.
“Victor, listen to me.”
“No.”
“I can explain.”
“Then explain why my daughter was alive after everyone told me she was dead.”
Richard's jaw tightened.
“Because Amelia didn't die.”
Victor's voice broke.
“Where is she?”
Richard didn't answer.
Chloe stepped forward.
“My mother is alive.”
Victor stared at her.
“You said your mother taught you the song.”
“She did.”
“Where is she?”
Chloe looked toward Nora.
Nora closed her eyes.
Then whispered:
“She told me never to bring Chloe back here.”
Victor felt the ground disappear beneath him.
“Why?”
Nora answered slowly.
“Because Amelia believed someone inside this house wanted her dead.”
The mansion fell silent.
Richard looked terrified.
Not angry.
Terrified.
Victor noticed.
That was when he realized something even worse.
Richard wasn't afraid of the accusation.
He was afraid of whatever Nora was about to say next.
Nora reached into her purse.
She removed a small brass key.
Victor recognized it.
It belonged to the private study he had sealed after Amelia disappeared.
Nora placed it in his hand.
“She said you would eventually need to open the room.”
Victor stared at the key.
“When?”
Nora looked at Chloe.
“When Chloe was old enough to protect herself.”
Victor's eyes widened.
“How old?”
“Nine.”
A cold silence spread through the mansion.
Chloe had turned nine two weeks ago.
Then every light in the ballroom suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed the guests.
A second later, a gunshot echoed from upstairs.
Chloe grabbed Victor's hand.
“Don't move.”
Victor whispered, “Why?”
“Because the person who shot upstairs isn't trying to kill you.”
May you like
She looked into the darkness.
“He's trying to scare you away from the study.”
