Chapter 12 - The Chapel Box
The old chapel stood behind the Whitmore estate.
It had been abandoned for years.
The stained-glass windows were cracked.
Dust covered the wooden benches.
A cold wind moved through the broken doors.
Patricia walked slowly toward the altar.
Emily followed.
Daniel stayed behind them.
"Here."
Patricia pointed beneath the altar.
Emily knelt.
She felt underneath the stone.
Nothing.
Then her fingers touched metal.
She pulled out a small iron box.
Her heart began beating faster.
The lock was shaped like a keyhole.
Emily reached into her pocket.
She still carried the small silver key from the night everything changed.
She inserted it.
Click.
The box opened.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
A cassette tape.
And a small red velvet pouch.
Emily opened the pouch.
A ring fell into her palm.
She recognized it immediately.
She had seen it in her childhood dreams.
A thin silver ring with a tiny blue stone.
"My mother."
Patricia nodded.
"She wore it every day."
Emily's eyes filled with tears.
She picked up the first letter.
The handwriting was elegant.
Emily,
If you ever read this, then the people who tried to erase me have failed.
Emily's breath caught.
She continued.
I need you to know something.
Your father did not abandon you.
Emily closed her eyes.
Daniel moved closer.
"Keep reading."
She did.
He loved you more than anything.
But there are people who believe this family is built on money. They are wrong. It was built on a promise.
Emily turned the page.
The promise was made by your grandfather.
She frowned.
The next line made her blood run cold.
He promised that the original Whitmore estate would never be sold to Northstar.
Daniel stared.
"Northstar."
Emily nodded.
Her hands shook.
The letter continued.
George wants the land.
But George is not alone.
Emily stopped.
Daniel looked at her.
"Who else?"
Emily read the next sentence.
There is someone inside our family who has been feeding him information for decades.
She turned the page.
Nothing.
The rest had been torn away.
Emily stared.
"No."
Patricia whispered:
"There were more pages."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Emily looked at her.
"You knew this box existed."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Patricia began crying.
"Because I was afraid."
"Of whom?"
Patricia didn't answer.
Suddenly, the chapel doors slammed shut.
Daniel turned.
A figure stood outside.
A man.
Dark coat.
Hat pulled low.
Emily stood.
"Who are you?"
The man didn't answer.
Instead, he threw something through the window.
It hit the floor.
A second photograph.
Emily picked it up.
Her face changed.
The photograph showed her mother.
Sophia.
Standing beside a young Patricia.
And behind them...
Daniel's father.
But there was someone else.
A fourth person.
A man Emily didn't recognize.
Daniel stared at the photograph.
"Who is that?"
Patricia whispered:
"My father."
Emily looked at her.
"You mean my grandfather?"
Patricia nodded.
"Yes."
Emily looked at the date.
The photograph had been taken thirty-one years earlier.
Her grandfather had supposedly been in the hospital that day.
But he wasn't.
He was standing beside Sophia.
And holding a document.
Emily zoomed in.
Her heart stopped.
It was the original Whitmore trust.
The document that everyone had been fighting over.
But there was something written across the bottom.
A handwritten clause.
Emily read it aloud.
"If the heir is ever removed from the Whitmore family, ownership shall pass to the child of Sophia."
Daniel looked at her.
"That's you."
Emily nodded.
Suddenly Patricia whispered:
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Your grandfather didn't die naturally."
Emily turned.
Patricia's eyes were full of fear.
"He was murdered."
The chapel fell silent.
May you like
And somewhere outside...
a car engine started.
