Chapter 2 - THE EAST WING
I didn't tell the children where I was going.
I told them to stay downstairs with Mrs. Harper, the housekeeper who had been with our family for nearly seven years.
"Don't leave her," I told Noah.
He nodded.
"What about you?"
"I'm going to find out why Vanessa was afraid of that key."
Lily reached for my hand.
"Daddy, don't go."
I knelt beside her.
"I'm not going anywhere far."
That was a lie.
I was going to the one place in the mansion my father had forbidden me to enter.
The east wing.
I walked through the corridor alone.
The mansion was unusually quiet.
Sunlight stretched across the polished floor, but the farther I went, the colder the hallway seemed.
The door was at the very end.
Black wood.
Brass handle.
A narrow keyhole.
For twelve years, I had never questioned why it was locked.
My father had told me only once:
"Some rooms are better left closed."
I had accepted that.
Until now.
I took Lily's silver key from my pocket.
It slid into the lock perfectly.
My stomach tightened.
I turned it.
Click.
The door opened.
Dust covered the floor, but the room didn't look abandoned.
That was the first thing I noticed.
Someone had been here.
Recently.
A chair stood beside a desk.
A glass of water sat on it.
Still half full.
I moved deeper into the room.
There were old photographs on the walls.
My father.
My mother.
Our family.
Then I stopped.
There was another child.
A boy.
He was standing beside my father.
I stared at the photograph.
The boy looked about twelve.
Dark hair.
Same eyes as my father.
Same sharp jaw.
I turned the photograph over.
No name.
Only a date.
Eighteen years before Noah was born.
I placed it down.
Something else caught my attention.
A drawer was slightly open.
Inside was a stack of letters.
I pulled the first one out.
The paper was yellowed.
The handwriting was unmistakably my father's.
I read the first line.
If Daniel ever opens this room, it means I failed to protect him.
I froze.
I read further.
The child must never know the truth until he is old enough to understand what his inheritance will cost him.
The child.
I turned the page.
The rest had been torn away.
Footsteps sounded behind me.
I spun around.
Vanessa stood in the doorway.
Her face was pale.
"You shouldn't be here."
I held up the letter.
"You knew."
She closed her eyes.
"I knew about the room."
"You knew about the key."
"Yes."
"You knew Lily had it."
"Yes."
"Why did you try to take it from her?"
Vanessa stepped inside.
"I wasn't trying to hurt Lily."
"She almost went over the roof."
"I panicked."
"You grabbed her."
"I was trying to get the key."
"Why?"
She looked at the desk.
"Because I knew what it would unlock."
I stared at her.
"What?"
She hesitated.
"Something your father left."
"Money?"
"No."
"Documents?"
"No."
"Then what?"
She looked directly into my eyes.
"A person."
I felt a chill move through me.
"What does that mean?"
Before she could answer, a noise came from the hallway.
A child crying.
Lily.
I ran out.
She was standing at the end of the corridor.
Noah was beside her.
But they weren't alone.
A man was standing near the staircase.
Tall.
Dark-haired.
Wearing an old gray coat.
He looked directly at me.
For one impossible second, I thought I was looking at my dead father.
Then the man smiled.
May you like
And said my name.
"Daniel."
