Chapter 4: The Evidence In The Walls
I ran upstairs before Vincent could say another word.
The sound of Lily’s scream was still echoing through the mansion.
Every instinct in my body told me something was wrong.
A trap.
A distraction.
Another betrayal.
But when I reached my office, I stopped.
The door was open.
The two guards I had stationed outside were standing frozen.
And inside the room, Clara was holding Lily.
My daughter was not screaming anymore.
She was staring at the wall.
At something behind my desk.
“What happened?”” I demanded.
One of the guards stepped forward.
“We heard a noise from inside. We opened the door, but nobody was here.””
I looked around.
Nobody.
No attacker.
No stranger.
Nothing.
Then Lily pointed.
“Daddy.””
I followed her finger.
The painting behind my desk was slightly crooked.
A painting that had been hanging there since I was a child.
I walked closer.
My eyes narrowed.
Because I knew that painting.
I knew every detail.
And I knew it had never moved.
I touched the edge.
The frame shifted.
Another hidden mechanism.
Another secret.
My own house felt like it was turning against me.
“Everyone back.””
The guards moved away.
Clara stepped closer.
“Adrian.””
I looked at her.
“Did you know about this?””
She shook her head quickly.
“No.””
But she didn’t look surprised.
She looked exhausted.
Like she had already accepted that the truth would be worse than the fear.
I pulled the painting away.
Behind it was a small compartment built into the wall.
Inside was a black envelope.
No name.
No label.
Just a symbol burned into the front.
My father’s symbol.
My hands tightened.
I hadn’t seen it in years.
It was the mark Marcus Blackwood used for private matters.
Things even his closest people were never supposed to know.
I opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
I looked at it.
Then I stopped breathing.
It showed Vincent.
Standing beside my father.
Years ago.
Before I knew Vincent.
Before he became my guard.
Before he became family.
On the back of the photograph were four words.
*HE KNOWS THE TRUTH.*
Clara watched my face change.
“What is it?””
I didn’t answer.
Because I didn’t know how to explain the feeling rushing through me.
The man I trusted had a history with my father that I never knew existed.
A connection hidden from me.
Another secret.
I turned the photograph around.
Clara looked at it.
Her expression changed.
“You didn’t know?””
“No.””
She looked down.
“Then he lied to you longer than I thought.””
The words bothered me.
Because they were true.
I walked back downstairs.
Vincent was still in the foyer.
Still surrounded by guards.
When he saw my face, he knew.
He knew I had found something.
“What did you hide from me?”” I asked.
Vincent didn’t move.
“Adrian—”
“No.””
My voice echoed through the mansion.
“You don’t get to explain until you answer one question.””
I held up the photograph.
His face changed immediately.
And that reaction was all I needed.
“You knew my father.””
Silence.
The guards looked between us.
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Yes.””
“How?””
Another pause.
Then he said the words that changed everything.
“I wasn’t your father’s guard.””
My grip tightened around the photograph.
“Then what were you?””
Vincent looked at me.
“I was his investigator.””
Nobody moved.
Not even the guards.
Because everyone understood what that meant.
Vincent had not entered my life by accident.
He had been placed there.
For a reason.
“Why?””
His expression became heavy.
“Because your father believed the biggest threat to his empire would come from inside his own bloodline.””
I stared at him.
My own family.
My own house.
My own people.
Everyone had been keeping secrets.
“Who was he investigating?””
Vincent looked away.
And that frightened me.
Because I had seen Vincent face guns.
Knives.
Death.
But this question scared him.
Finally, he spoke.
“Someone who has been standing next to you for years.””
The words hung in the air.
I looked around the foyer.
At the guards.
At the staircase.
At the mansion I thought I controlled.
Then I realized something terrifying.
The enemy wasn’t outside my walls.
The enemy had been living inside them.
And whoever it was had already taken the first shot.
They had taken Clara.
May you like
They had hidden her.
And they had waited for me to uncover the truth myself.
