Chapter 7 - The Locked Room Upstairs
Daniel had taken the ledger.
Evelyn called him.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Adrian paced.
"I should have known."
"No."
Evelyn looked at the empty hiding place.
"Daniel wanted us to find it."
"Then why steal it?"
"Because someone made him."
Her phone rang.
Daniel.
She answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Don't follow me."
"Daniel—"
"Dad has Mom."
Evelyn froze.
Margaret.
Richard had taken her from Vale Manor.
Daniel had received a photograph.
Margaret tied to a chair.
Richard wanted the ledger.
"Where?"
"Old Vale warehouse."
"We'll call police."
"No."
Daniel's voice cracked.
"He said he'll kill her."
The call ended.
Evelyn looked at Adrian.
"We're going."
They did.
But not alone.
Adrian contacted federal investigators already reviewing Richard's accounts.
The warehouse stood near the river.
Daniel entered first.
Evelyn and Adrian watched remotely through a tracking device hidden in Daniel's car.
Richard appeared.
Margaret sat behind him.
Alive.
Daniel held up the ledger.
"Let her go."
Richard smiled.
"You always were sentimental."
"She's your wife."
"She was useful."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Daniel looked shattered.
Richard took the ledger.
Then he laughed.
"It's fake."
Daniel froze.
Evelyn looked at Adrian.
He looked at her.
She smiled faintly.
Before leaving the house, Evelyn had switched it.
The real ledger was hidden beneath her wedding gown box.
Richard didn't know.
Police moved in.
Richard escaped through a rear exit before they reached him.
Margaret was rescued.
Daniel collapsed beside her.
For the first time, Evelyn watched her brother choose someone over himself.
It didn't erase what he'd done.
But it mattered.
At the hospital, Margaret finally told Evelyn everything.
Richard had controlled her for years.
Money.
Threats.
Isolation.
And one secret.
Margaret had discovered Claire was alive ten years earlier.
She tried to contact her.
Richard found out.
He threatened Daniel.
Margaret surrendered.
Evelyn listened.
Then said quietly, "You still made a choice."
Margaret nodded.
"I know."
There was no easy forgiveness.
Evelyn appreciated that her mother didn't ask for it.
That night, Adrian handed Evelyn annulment papers.
Signed.
"You only need to sign."
She looked at them.
"You want this?"
"What I want doesn't matter."
"That's convenient."
He frowned.
"You lied to me, Adrian. Don't start deciding for me now."
"I'm trying to give you freedom."
"Then let me choose it."
Their eyes met.
Something had changed.
Not love.
Not yet.
But trust had begun where revenge had failed.
Evelyn folded the papers.
"I'll decide later."
Adrian nodded.
Then his phone buzzed.
A security alert.
Someone had entered Blackwood Manor.
They returned immediately.
Nothing appeared stolen.
Until Adrian reached Sebastian's private upstairs room.
The door stood open.
On the desk lay the elderly mask.
Beside it was a fresh photograph.
Evelyn picked it up.
It showed her sleeping in the hospital waiting room less than six hours earlier.
Someone had been close enough to photograph her.
On the back were five words:
THE WRONG BLACKWOOD FOUND YOU.
Adrian looked toward the hallway.
A floorboard creaked.
May you like
The locked attic door slowly opened.
A shadow moved behind it...
