Chapter 6 - THE ENEMY UNDER OUR ROOF
By breakfast, I no longer trusted anyone at Blackthorne Estate.
Not the guards.
Not the cooks.
Not even the maids who had laughed at my clumsiness.
Someone inside the mansion was working for the people who had kidnapped my father.
And that person might have watched me comfort Evelyn, clean the hallways, and cry quietly in the laundry room after hospital visits.
Adrian ordered a complete security investigation.
Nobody was allowed to leave.
Every employee's phone was examined under his security protocols, and the staff were questioned individually.
But I knew something the investigators didn't.
The mansion had habits.
Servants noticed things powerful men overlooked.
I knew which maid stole leftover pastries.
Which guard secretly smoked behind the greenhouse.
Which housekeeper disappeared every afternoon for twenty minutes.
And I knew that Victoria's favorite personal assistant, Bianca, had been visiting the estate long before the engagement was announced.
"Bianca," I told Adrian.
He looked up from his desk.
"What about her?"
"She used to come here on Tuesdays."
"Victoria's assistant?"
"Yes."
"Victoria visited frequently."
"Not on those Tuesdays."
Adrian became still.
"Explain."
"I saw Bianca leaving the east wing three times. She said she was collecting dresses Victoria had left behind."
"And?"
"Victoria keeps her clothes in the guest suite. Not the east wing."
Adrian called Marco immediately.
Twenty minutes later, Bianca's photograph appeared on the security monitors.
Her real name wasn't Bianca Ellis.
It was Bianca Moreau.
She had previously worked for a private intelligence firm linked to Sterling Holdings.
And six years earlier, she had been employed by Robert Blackthorne.
Adrian stared at the screen.
"My father hired her?"
Marco nodded.
"Three months before he died."
Evelyn was sitting beside the fireplace when we told her.
At the mention of Bianca's name, she began trembling.
"She took his papers."
Adrian knelt in front of her.
"Mother, whose papers?"
"Robert's."
"What papers?"
"The ones he kept behind the painting."
Adrian looked toward the enormous portrait hanging above the fireplace.
A painting of his parents on their wedding day.
He stood and lifted it from the wall.
Behind it was a small metal compartment.
Empty.
Except for a folded piece of paper.
Adrian opened it.
The handwriting was unmistakably his father's.
If the truth returns, trust the woman who protects Evelyn without expecting a reward.
Adrian slowly looked at me.
My cheeks burned.
"I didn't know him," I whispered.
"I know."
He read the second sentence.
The key is not made of metal.
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Before anyone could answer, the mansion's alarm sounded.
Marco touched his earpiece.
"Boss, Bianca Moreau has been located."
"Where?"
"At the north gate."
"Bring her in."
A pause.
Marco's expression changed.
"She isn't alone."
Security footage appeared.
Bianca stood beside a black SUV.
A man stepped out.
Tall.
Gray-haired.
Wearing a dark overcoat.
Adrian's face hardened.
"Richard Sterling."
Victoria's father.
The billionaire whose companies controlled half the luxury real estate in Manhattan.
Richard looked directly into the security camera.
Then held up a phone.
A video played.
My father sat tied to a chair.
Pale.
Weak.
Barely conscious.
Richard smiled.
And his voice came through the gate intercom.
"Adrian, I believe it's time we discussed your mother's final days."
Evelyn gasped.
Then she whispered something nobody expected.
"Richard Sterling isn't his real name."
Adrian turned.
"What?"
Evelyn's eyes filled with terror.
"His name is Samuel Voss."
May you like
She pointed toward the screen.
"And he murdered your father."
