Chapter 4 - THE FLOOR THAT DIDN'T EXIST
At 10:48 p.m., I returned to the Grand Halcyon through the service entrance.
The gala was still happening.
That surprised me.
Apparently, being stripped of control had not been enough to stop Vanessa’s party.
Music still drifted down the halls.
Guests still laughed.
Champagne still moved.
From the lobby, no one would have known the family behind the hotel was collapsing.
Miriam came with me.
We took the private elevator.
Sixteen floors.
Then the panel stopped.
No seventeen.
Just penthouse.
Miriam inserted the brass key into a slot beneath the buttons.
A tiny light appeared.
The elevator moved.
I said nothing.
When the doors opened, I expected another luxury suite.
Instead, I found an office.
My mother’s office.
Untouched.
Dusty.
Preserved.
Her desk.
Her leather chair.
Architectural plans of the original warehouse.
Black-and-white construction photos.
I could barely breathe.
“Dad told me they cleared her office after she died.”
“They cleared the visible one.”
“Why keep this?”
“Your mother insisted.”
On the desk sat a locked metal box.
The brass key opened that too.
Inside were ledgers.
Photographs.
Letters.
And a cassette recorder.
I picked up the top photograph.
My mother stood outside the hotel during construction.
Dad was beside her.
So was Leonard Vale.
And Vanessa.
Twenty-two years younger.
Same eyes.
Same smile.
My hands went numb.
“She really was here.”
Miriam nodded.
I turned the photograph over.
Mom had written one sentence.
THEY THINK I DON’T KNOW.
I found the cassette player.
Pressed play.
Static.
Then my mother’s voice filled the room.
“If Claire ever hears this, it means I failed to fix something before I died.”
I closed my eyes.
She sounded alive.
Stronger than memory.
Then she continued.
“Robert is not the one I’m afraid of.”
Robert was my father.
I looked at Miriam.
My mother’s voice continued.
“I’m afraid of what he becomes when Vanessa tells him he deserves more.”
May you like
And then Mom said something I was not prepared for.
“She has already convinced him once.”
Related Stories
