Chapter 1 - THE WOMAN IN RED KNEW HER NAME
Gideon did not return to the ballroom angry.
He returned cold.
That was worse.
Owen walked half a step behind him, carrying the security log inside a black folder. Two guards remained outside Sage’s bedroom. Another had already locked the east-wing elevator.
Downstairs, nearly two hundred guests were still waiting.
Nobody had been permitted to leave.
The woman in red stood beside the fireplace.
Her name, according to the guest list, was Celeste Vane.
Gideon had never met her.
But his uncle Malcolm clearly had.
Malcolm Kessler stood near the bar, furious.
“This is ridiculous,” he snapped. “You cannot hold everyone hostage because a child spilled dinner on herself.”
Gideon stopped.
A dangerous silence followed.
“She didn’t spill anything.”
Malcolm rolled his eyes.
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
Gideon looked directly at Celeste.
“I do.”
Celeste’s face had lost its color.
The confidence she displayed when she humiliated Sage had disappeared.
Gideon stepped closer.
“You entered through Service Door Three at 6:14.”
She said nothing.
“You used a restricted household access code.”
Still nothing.
“You entered my daughter’s room.”
“I did not.”
Owen opened the folder.
“Camera outside the east-wing suite says otherwise.”
Celeste swallowed.
Malcolm stepped forward.
“This has gone far enough.”
Gideon turned.
“Sit down.”
Malcolm stared.
“Excuse me?”
“Sit.”
Malcolm slowly obeyed.
For the first time that evening, several guests understood something important.
This was not a family argument.
Gideon was investigating a threat.
Owen placed a photograph on the table.
Sage’s silver locket.
Celeste looked at it.
Only for a second.
Gideon noticed.
“Why were you looking for this?”
“I wasn’t.”
“Then why did you touch her necklace before dumping food over her?”
Her eyes widened.
She had not known the ballroom cameras caught that angle.
Gideon continued.
“You grabbed the chain.”
“No.”
“You checked whether the clasp was attached.”
“I was moving her away.”
“You poured spaghetti over a six-year-old.”
Celeste’s lips tightened.
Then Gideon asked:
“Who sent you?”
Nobody moved.
Celeste glanced toward Malcolm.
That was enough.
Malcolm stood.
“I invited her to a party. That is all.”
Owen spoke.
“Your office requested her security clearance yesterday.”
Malcolm’s face changed.
“Someone on my staff did.”
“Using your credentials.”
“I have assistants.”
“Who also instructed catering to seat Sage near the west dining table?”
Malcolm froze.
Gideon slowly turned toward him.
“You knew where my daughter would be standing.”
“That proves nothing.”
“No.”
Gideon stepped closer.
“But you spending the last forty-eight hours calling her a fraud makes it interesting.”
Malcolm laughed.
“You found a child carrying a necklace and suddenly decided she is your daughter.”
“The DNA test confirmed she is.”
“Tests can be manipulated.”
Gideon’s jaw hardened.
“You had no problem believing DNA when you thought I couldn’t produce an heir.”
The ballroom murmured.
Malcolm looked around.
“Not here.”
Gideon almost smiled.
“Especially here.”
Celeste suddenly spoke.
“I wasn’t supposed to take the locket.”
Everyone turned.
Malcolm’s face went white.
Celeste stared at the floor.
“I was only supposed to confirm she still had it.”
Gideon approached.
“Who gave you that instruction?”
Celeste looked toward Malcolm.
He shook his head almost imperceptibly.
She saw it.
So did Gideon.
“Say the name.”
Celeste whispered:
“Malcolm.”
The room exploded.
Malcolm surged to his feet.
“She is lying!”
Gideon did not look away from Celeste.
“What does he believe is inside the locket?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer needs to improve.”
“I swear.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“He showed me a photograph.”
“Of Sage?”
“Of the necklace.”
“He said if the child was wearing it, I should create a distraction and check whether the back still opened.”
Gideon felt his stomach tighten.
“The back?”
Owen looked sharply at him.
Gideon had examined Sage’s locket several times.
It opened normally from the front.
Inside was the photograph of Helena Kessler.
His mother.
But he had never checked the back.
Celeste continued.
“I wasn’t told to hurt her.”
“You dumped boiling sauce on her.”
“It wasn’t hot.”
The sentence sounded pathetic even to Celeste.
Gideon’s voice became deadly quiet.
“She is six.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Celeste began crying.
“I needed Malcolm to believe I followed instructions.”
That changed everything.
Gideon frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Celeste looked directly at him.
“Because I have been trying to get into this house for three years.”
Malcolm stopped breathing.
Gideon stared.
“Why?”
Celeste reached into her evening bag.
Owen immediately moved.
“Hands where I can see them.”
“It’s paper.”
Slowly, she removed an old photograph.
She placed it on the table.
Gideon looked down.
His mother Helena stood outside Ashcombe Manor twelve years earlier.
Beside her was a teenage girl Gideon recognized instantly.
His chest tightened.
“Mara.”
Celeste nodded.
Mara Rowan.
The woman Gideon had loved seven years earlier.
The woman who disappeared before he ever learned she was pregnant.
Sage’s mother.
Gideon looked at Celeste.
“How did my mother know Mara?”
“She knew her for years.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Celeste’s expression hardened.
“Your mother was the person who told Mara to keep that locket safe.”
Gideon stared at the photograph.
Helena had died five years before Gideon even met Mara.
“Why?”
Celeste whispered:
“Because Helena knew someone inside the Kessler family would eventually come looking for it.”
Malcolm suddenly moved toward the ballroom exit.
Owen’s guards blocked him.
“Where are you going?” Gideon asked.
Malcolm turned.
“This circus is over.”
“No.”
Gideon looked at the guards.
“Keep him here.”
Malcolm’s face darkened.
“You cannot imprison me in my own family’s house.”
Gideon stepped close enough that only the nearest guests could hear him.
“Ashcombe hasn’t been your house since Grandfather died.”
Malcolm smiled.
“You may want to check that.”
Gideon frowned.
Malcolm glanced at the locket photograph.
“Especially if the child opens it.”
Upstairs, a scream shattered the silence.
Sage.
Gideon ran.
He reached her room in seconds.
The two guards outside were gone.
The bedroom door stood open.
Sage was sitting upright in bed.
Terrified.
Her suitcase lay open on the floor.
And the silver locket was no longer around her neck.
“Daddy…”
Gideon crossed the room.
“What happened?”
Sage pointed toward the balcony doors.
“They took Grandma’s necklace.”
Gideon turned.
One balcony door was open.
Cold night air moved through the curtains.
Owen rushed inside.
He checked the balcony.
Nothing.
Then Sage grabbed Gideon’s sleeve.
“The lady said you weren’t supposed to see the picture underneath.”
Gideon froze.
“What picture?”
Sage stared at him.
“The one behind Grandma.”
May you like
And suddenly Gideon realized the photograph inside the locket had never been the secret.
Something had been hidden behind it.
