Chapter 4 - The House With Locked Doors.
The Sterling penthouse occupied the top three floors of a building Lucas called their home.
That night, Willow finally saw it as a polished prison.
Lucas took her phone, purse, and the silver key before the elevator doors opened.
"You will stay in the blue guest suite until you are ready to cooperate."
"You mean until the bruise fades."
He looked at her cheek without remorse.
"You forced a private disagreement into public view."
"Your hand made it public."
Lucas shoved open the guest-room door.
Marisol Reyes, the longtime house manager, waited inside with ice wrapped in a linen towel.
Her eyes moved from Willow's face to Lucas's hands.
"Leave us," he ordered.
Marisol did not move.
"Mrs. Sterling needs medical attention."
"Mrs. Sterling needs sleep."
Willow touched Marisol's arm.
"I'll be all right."
The lie tasted familiar.
She had used it after Lucas broke a lamp beside her head during their first year of marriage.
She had used it when he canceled her credit cards because she visited Richard without permission.
She had used it when Evelyn called obedience the price of becoming a Sterling.
Each lie had purchased one peaceful evening and another month of danger.
Marisol had witnessed the aftermath without ever being allowed to name it.
"I should have helped sooner," Marisol whispered.
"He made all of us believe we needed perfect proof."
Willow met her eyes in the mirror.
"Then we stop waiting for perfect."
For the first time that night, the fear inside her made room for purpose.
Lucas locked the door from the outside.
Marisol immediately pressed the ice to Willow's cheek.
"The room has cameras," she whispered.
Willow kept her expression blank.
Marisol crossed to the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Under the noise of running water, she pulled a burner phone from her apron.
"Your father gave me this last year."
"Why would my father contact you?"
"Because he knew Lucas was monitoring you."
Willow's anger turned toward Richard.
"Then he knew I was in danger and said nothing."
"He said he needed proof."
"My face is proof."
Marisol flinched because there was no answer to that.
The burner phone held one saved number and one photograph.
The photograph showed Lucas meeting Richard's chief financial officer, Adrian Cole, in a private airport hangar.
Between them sat a red metal document case.
The date stamp was the night before the missing charity funds vanished.
Willow called Richard.
He answered with a whisper.
"Lena's van was found empty near the river."
"Is she alive?"
"We don't know."
Willow closed her eyes.
"What happened to Mother?"
Richard remained silent too long.
"Not on the phone."
"You hid a microphone in my earring."
"I hid a key."
"Lucas found it."
Richard cursed under his breath.
"That key opens a safe behind the portrait in Lucas's study."
"How do you know?"
"Because the safe belonged to your mother."
Footsteps crossed the bedroom outside the bathroom.
Marisol switched off the shower.
Willow concealed the burner phone inside the hem of her gown.
Lucas opened the bathroom door with the silver key resting on his palm.
"Looking for this?"
Behind him stood a doctor carrying a leather medical bag.
The doctor prepared a syringe.
"This will help with Mrs. Sterling's episode," Lucas said.
May you like
Willow backed into the marble sink.
The bedroom door locked again.
