Chapter 3 - THE LOCKED STUDYEmergency lights flickered on.
Panic erupted.
Guests shouted.
Security guards drew weapons.
Victor immediately ordered everyone into the ballroom.
“No one leaves.”
Marcus rushed toward the staircase.
Victor stopped him.
“Take two men.”
Marcus nodded.
Nora grabbed Chloe.
But Chloe refused to move.
“I need to show him.”
“Show him what?”
Chloe pointed upstairs.
“The study.”
Victor looked at the brass key in his hand.
He had avoided that room for twenty years.
After Amelia disappeared, he had locked it himself.
He couldn't explain why.
Maybe because everything inside reminded him of her.
Maybe because part of him had always feared what he might discover.
He climbed the stairs.
Nora and Chloe followed.
Richard remained below, surrounded by guards.
The study door stood at the end of the corridor.
A bullet hole was visible in the wall beside it.
Victor inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Dust covered everything.
An old piano sat in the corner.
Books lined the shelves.
Amelia's childhood drawings still hung on the walls.
Victor stepped inside.
Chloe followed.
She immediately pointed toward a cabinet.
“Behind that.”
Victor moved it.
Nothing.
Chloe frowned.
“Higher.”
He looked again.
A tiny symbol had been carved into the wood.
A music note.
Victor pressed it.
A compartment opened.
Inside was a cassette tape.
Victor's heart raced.
There was an old tape player on the desk.
He inserted it.
Static.
Then Amelia's voice.
Young.
Frightened.
“Dad, if you're listening to this, I'm probably gone.”
Victor stopped breathing.
Nora covered her mouth.
Amelia continued.
“I don't know who I can trust.”
The recording crackled.
“I found the accounts.”
Victor frowned.
“What accounts?”
Amelia's voice continued.
“Money has been disappearing from the Blackwood companies for years.”
Marcus exchanged a glance with Victor.
“Someone has been using shell companies to steal from us.”
Then Amelia whispered:
“And the person controlling them isn't outside the family.”
Victor's face hardened.
The tape continued.
“I confronted Richard.”
Everyone froze.
Richard.
“He told me I'd regret asking questions.”
Victor stared at Nora.
Then the recording changed.
Amelia was crying.
“If I disappear, please don't believe them when they say I ran away.”
The tape ended.
Victor stood motionless.
Then another sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Marcus raised his weapon.
The door opened.
Richard stood there.
“How did you get in?”
Victor demanded.
Richard looked exhausted.
“I came to warn you.”
“About what?”
Richard slowly closed the door.
“You've misunderstood everything.”
Victor stepped forward.
“You knew Amelia was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew she had a child.”
“Yes.”
Victor's eyes widened.
“You knew Chloe was my granddaughter.”
Richard nodded.
“Then why did you hide them from me?”
Richard's voice dropped.
“Because I was protecting you.”
Victor almost laughed.
“Protecting me?”
Richard looked at Chloe.
Then he said:
“You've been blaming the wrong brother for twenty years.”
Victor stared.
“What does that mean?”
Richard pulled a folded document from his pocket.
He handed it over.
Victor opened it.
It was a bank transfer record.
Millions of dollars had moved through accounts controlled by the Blackwood family.
But the recipient wasn't Richard.
It wasn't Victor.
The name belonged to someone else.
Victor's face went blank.
Because the account was registered to a woman.
A woman officially declared dead twenty years earlier.
Amelia Blackwood.
And beneath the account number was a note.
FINAL PAYMENT: AUGUST 24.
Today.
Victor looked at Chloe.
The little girl whispered:
“They're coming tonight.”
A loud crash came from downstairs.
Then screaming.
Marcus ran to the door.
Victor followed.
But before he left, Chloe stopped him.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
She pointed at the piano.
“Mom told me never to let you play that song backwards.”
Victor stared at her.
“Why?”
May you like
Chloe answered:
“Because that's how they gave the order.”
