Chapter 6 - The House Rules.
Adrian returned to Mercer House furious with himself.
He had spent years believing danger announced itself through raised voices, broken locks, or obvious betrayal.
Instead, the most unsettling discoveries had arrived through copied signatures, missing records, and a white card placed neatly on a pillow.
Emma sat in the back of the car with her hands clasped tightly together.
Daniel rode in front with the brown briefcase on his knees.
“No one should know about your mother’s envelope,” he said.
Emma stared out the window.
“My mother knew.”
“And whoever took it either knew her or had access to something she left behind.”
Adrian thought of Eleanor.
Then he forced himself to stop.
Suspicion was becoming too easy.
When they reached the mansion, Eleanor was waiting in the foyer.
“You left your son here during a security issue?” she asked Adrian.
“He is with two guards and the nanny upstairs.”
Emma flinched at the word nanny.
Eleanor noticed.
“You are not his mother, Emma.”
Adrian’s voice went cold.
“That was unnecessary.”
Eleanor faced him.
“Someone has to say what everyone else is thinking.”
“No,” Adrian said.
“Someone has been saying too much for too long.”
Her expression hardened.
Daniel stepped between the tension and the staircase.
“I need the estate policy binders from the old records room.”
Eleanor did not move.
“That room is sealed because of moisture damage.”
“Since when?” Adrian asked.
“Last winter.”
“I was never told.”
“You signed the work order.”
Daniel opened the briefcase and removed a photocopy.
“This signature?”
Adrian examined it.
Another imitation.
Eleanor looked at the page, then at Adrian.
“I did not prepare that.”
“Who did?”
“I do not know.”
For the first time, her answer sounded less defensive than frightened.
Emma saw it too.
“Mrs. Vance,” she said, “did my mother ever give you an envelope?”
Eleanor’s face changed completely.
The color drained from her cheeks.
“Where did you hear that?”
Emma took one step forward.
“She gave me one.”
Eleanor closed her eyes briefly.
“Then Rose ignored my advice.”
Adrian stared at her.
“You knew Rose Hale?”
“Of course I knew her.”
“Why did you never tell me?”
“Because your father ordered me not to.”
The foyer seemed to narrow around them.
Daniel asked the question Adrian could not immediately form.
“What was in Rose’s envelope?”
Eleanor looked toward the staircase where Noah slept above them.
“I do not know exactly.”
“That is not an answer,” Adrian said.
Eleanor turned back.
“Your father discovered irregularities in the family foundation accounts fifteen years ago.”
Adrian felt the floor shift beneath his certainty.
“He suspected someone inside the estate office.”
“Who?”
“He never proved it.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“And Rose?”
“She saw a man carrying files out of the old records room after midnight.”
Emma whispered, “The man with brown shoes?”
Eleanor looked at her sharply.
“What did you say?”
Before Emma could answer, the mansion lights went out.
The chandelier above them died instantly.
A second later, Noah screamed from upstairs.
May you like
Adrian ran toward the staircase.
In the darkness, somewhere behind the walls, a lock clicked open.
