Chapter 3 - MY MOTHER HAD BEEN AFRAID BEFORE SHE DIED
I did not go home.
I went straight to Miriam’s office.
It was after ten by the time I arrived, but every light on the twenty-third floor was on.
Miriam was waiting with a red folder and a face I did not like.
“Sit down.”
“I’d rather stand.”
She nodded.
Then opened the folder.
Inside was my mother’s handwriting.
I recognized it before I could read a single word.
Strong.
Slanted.
Precise.
Claire—
If you are reading this, it means you are thirty-five, and the Halcyon has survived long enough for the choice to become yours.
My throat closed.
I kept reading.
Your father loves the hotel.
But he loves being seen as the man who owns it even more.
I stopped.
Miriam watched me carefully.
“Did Dad know she wrote this?”
“No.”
I continued.
If he ever allows someone to convince him that preserving control matters more than preserving the property, protect the land first.
The land first.
Mom had underlined it twice.
Then came the sentence that changed the room.
Vanessa’s name was already in the letter.
My mother had written it twenty-two years earlier.
I looked at Miriam.
“How is that possible?”
“She knew Vanessa.”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Yes.”
I felt anger rise immediately.
“My father met Vanessa nine years ago.”
“That is what he told you.”
I stared at the page.
There it was.
If Leonard or Vanessa attempt to regain influence over the hotel, assume they are acting together.
I read the line three times.
“Vanessa knew my mother?”
Miriam nodded.
“How?”
“She worked for Leonard Vale.”
My blood went cold.
“Doing what?”
“Financial administration.”
Everything shifted.
Vanessa had not simply appeared years after Mom died.
She had been connected to the hotel long before.
“How long did Dad know her?”
Miriam looked away.
That answer scared me.
“Miriam.”
She met my eyes.
“Longer than he has admitted.”
I looked down at the sealed letter.
At the bottom was another instruction.
If Claire reaches thirty-five and I am not there, give her the key to Suite 1701.
I frowned.
“The hotel doesn’t have a Suite 1701.”
Miriam closed the folder.
“Publicly, no.”
Then she took a small brass key from an envelope.
May you like
And suddenly I remembered something from childhood.
There had always been one elevator button Dad told me never to touch.
