Chapter 2 - The Letter Hidden Beneath the Broken Glass
The hallway outside Sophie’s bathroom felt colder than any room in the house.
Ethan Vale stood frozen.
His hand was still gripping the doorknob.
Behind the locked door was his daughter.
The little girl he had promised to protect after losing the woman they both loved.
And standing between him and Sophie was Natalie.
His future wife.
The woman who had been wearing white that morning.
The woman who had smiled beside him only hours earlier.
The woman everyone downstairs believed would become the new mother Sophie needed.
But now Ethan was looking at someone he barely recognized.
“Natalie.”
His voice was quiet.
Too quiet.
“What did you do?”
Natalie looked at him with controlled disappointment.
Not guilt.
Not fear.
Disappointment.
As if Ethan was the one ruining the moment.
“I told you already,” she said.
“She was having a tantrum.”
Behind the door, Sophie’s crying became louder.
“Daddy…”
Ethan’s entire expression changed.
The sound was small.
Broken.
The same voice that had called for him the night his first wife died.
The same voice that had asked him why Mommy wasn’t coming home.
He stepped toward the door.
Natalie moved immediately.
Blocking him again.
“The guests are waiting.”
Ethan stared at her.
For a moment, he couldn’t understand what he was hearing.
“My daughter is locked in a bathroom.”
Natalie crossed her arms.
“And your wedding is about to start.”
Silence filled the hallway.
Then Ethan asked the question that changed everything.
“Did you lock her in there?”
Natalie didn’t answer.
That was enough.
Ethan reached forward.
“Natalie, move.”
She didn’t.
Instead, she lowered her voice.
“If you walk away from me right now, everything we planned is over.”
Ethan looked at her.
Everything they planned.
The house.
The wedding.
The future.
A future that suddenly felt like a carefully decorated room with something rotten hidden underneath the floor.
“You think this is about us?”
Natalie’s eyes hardened.
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“I think you’re forgetting who saved you after your wife died.”
The words hit him.
Not because they were true.
Because of how she said them.
Like she had been waiting years to use them.
Ethan’s face became unreadable.
“Move.”
This time, Natalie heard something different in his voice.
Not anger.
A decision.
She stepped aside.
Ethan unlocked the bathroom door.
The moment it opened, Sophie ran into him.
Her small arms wrapped around his waist.
“Daddy…”
He dropped to his knees.
“I’m here.”
Sophie buried her face against him.
“She broke Mommy’s music box.”
Ethan looked over her shoulder.
On the bathroom floor were tiny pieces of blue glass.
The music box.
The last thing Claire had left their daughter.
For five years, Ethan had watched Sophie hold that little box whenever she missed her mother.
He had watched her fall asleep listening to the same melody.
A melody Claire had hummed while pregnant.
A melody Ethan thought belonged only to their family.
Until now.
Because something was different.
Among the broken pieces of glass…
there was something underneath.
A small silver compartment.
Ethan frowned.
He had never seen it before.
He carefully picked it up.
Sophie noticed.
“Mommy said nobody should open it.”
Ethan froze.
“What?”
Sophie wiped her tears.
“She told me it was only for you.”
The hallway suddenly felt silent.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
Sophie looked down.
“Because Mommy said I had to wait until the right person came.”
Ethan’s heart tightened.
“Right person?”
Sophie nodded.
“She said if someone bad ever tried to take it…”
Her voice became smaller.
“They were looking for the truth.”
Ethan looked at the broken music box again.
For five years, he had believed Claire’s death was a tragic accident.
A storm.
A car crash.
A terrible moment that took the woman he loved away from him.
But now…
he wasn’t sure anymore.
Because Claire had known something.
And she had hidden it inside the only thing she knew Sophie would protect.
The blue music box.
Ethan carried Sophie downstairs.
The wedding guests immediately noticed something was wrong.
The music stopped.
The conversations disappeared.
Everyone looked at the father carrying his daughter.
Everyone looked at Natalie standing behind him.
And everyone understood.
The wedding was over.
A woman from the front row whispered:
“Is everything okay?”
Ethan ignored the question.
His eyes never left Natalie.
“Everyone needs to leave.”
The room went silent.
Natalie stepped forward.
“Ethan, don’t do this.”
But he wasn’t listening.
Not anymore.
Because the man who had walked into that wedding hoping to start a new life…
had just discovered that the past was not buried.
It had been waiting.
Upstairs, inside his office, Ethan carefully opened the hidden compartment.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
Old.
Yellowed.
Protected from time.
His hands trembled before he even unfolded it.
Because he recognized the handwriting.
Claire’s handwriting.
The first words nearly stopped his breathing.
Ethan.
If you are reading this, then Sophie’s music box has been broken.
And if the music box has been broken…
it means someone was desperate enough to search for what I hid.
Ethan swallowed.
He continued reading.
I need you to understand something.
I did not die because of an accident.
The room seemed to spin.
Ethan stopped breathing.
He read the sentence again.
Then again.
I did not die because of an accident.
Someone wanted me gone.
Someone who believed I discovered the truth about the Vale family.
His eyes moved lower.
The next line was written darker.
More urgently.
If Natalie Vale has entered your life…
do not trust her.
Ethan dropped the letter onto the desk.
Natalie.
The name echoed in his mind.
Not Natalie Walker.
Not the woman he thought he knew.
Natalie Vale.
The family name his wife had warned about.
The family name she had feared.
A sound came from behind him.
The office door opening.
Ethan turned.
Natalie stood there.
Her wedding dress was still perfect.
Her makeup was still flawless.
But the expression on her face had changed.
She was no longer pretending.
“You found it.”
Ethan stared.
“How long?”
Natalie said nothing.
“How long did you know about this letter?”
Her silence answered him.
Ethan felt something inside him break.
Not his heart.
Something worse.
His trust.
“Why did you come into my life?”
Natalie slowly closed the door.
Then she said the one thing Ethan never expected.
“I didn’t come into your life.”
A pause.
“I was sent.”
Ethan felt the blood leave his face.
“By who?”
Natalie looked at the letter on the desk.
Then back at him.
“The same person who killed Claire.”
For the first time that day…
Natalie looked afraid.
And Ethan realized something terrifying.
May you like
She was not the biggest threat.
She was only the beginning.
