Chapter 5 - Beneath the Study
They returned to Blackwood Manor at two in the morning.
Eleanor protested.
Adrian ignored her.
The study floor consisted of long oak planks darkened by age.
Adrian counted from the fireplace.
Fourth row.
Seventeenth board.
Twenty-ninth inch from the wall.
Sophie knelt.
“There.”
A tiny brass mark.
Adrian used a flat tool to lift the edge.
The board came free.
Beneath it sat nothing.
Sophie’s hope collapsed.
Then Adrian reached farther inside.
His fingers touched metal.
A narrow steel box emerged.
Locked.
The brass key was gone.
Victor—or whoever entered during the blackout—had taken it.
Sophie examined the lock.
Then she remembered her mother’s wooden box.
The cheap watch.
Grace never wore watches.
Sophie opened the back casing.
Inside was a second key.
Adrian stared.
“Your mother planned for everything.”
“No.”
Sophie slid the key into the steel box.
“She expected something terrible.”
The lock opened.
Inside were financial ledgers.
Photographs.
Copies of bank transfers.
And a sealed envelope.
On the front:
FOR ADRIAN BLACKWOOD.
His hands trembled.
He opened it.
The letter was from his father.
Adrian,
If you are reading this, I failed to stop what began inside this family.
Victor is not acting alone.
The missing money is not the greatest danger.
Someone is using Blackwood accounts to purchase influence, silence witnesses, and control votes on the foundation board.
Grace Bennett discovered the transfers.
She is innocent.
Trust her.
More importantly, trust the person she chooses to protect these records.
Do not trust signatures.
Do not trust titles.
And if your mother tells you she did everything to protect you, believe her.
She will have paid dearly for it.
There was one final line.
The proof is incomplete without the Harrington files.
Bianca.
Sophie whispered the name.
Adrian looked at her.
“Her family.”
They searched the documents.
Harrington Holdings appeared repeatedly.
Millions transferred between Blackwood subsidiaries and companies owned by Bianca’s father.
Victor Blackwood approved several.
Another signature appeared beneath his.
Marcus Hale.
The Blackwood family attorney.
The same man Sophie had heard speaking with Bianca.
Adrian called security.
“Find Marcus.”
A guard answered after several seconds.
“Sir…”
“What?”
“Mr. Hale left the estate during the blackout.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Track his car.”
“We already tried.”
“And?”
“It was found near Lake Shore Drive.”
“Empty?”
“Yes.”
Sophie looked at the ledger.
“Bianca wasn’t working alone.”
Adrian nodded.
Then his phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You found the box.”
Adrian put the call on speaker.
Sophie’s skin prickled.
“Who is this?”
“You have something that doesn’t belong to you.”
Adrian laughed coldly.
“It was under my father’s floor.”
“Burn the ledger.”
“No.”
“Then Sophie Bennett learns why her mother really died.”
Sophie’s blood froze.
“My mother had cancer.”
The voice paused.
Then:
“That’s what Grace wanted you to believe.”
The call ended.
Sophie stared at the phone.
Nine years earlier, Grace had died after what Sophie had believed was an aggressive illness.
There had been doctors.
Medication.
Hospital visits.
A funeral.
But Sophie had been nineteen.
Scared.
Exhausted.
She had never questioned anything.
Adrian looked at her.
“Sophie—”
She picked up the ledger.
“No.”
“What?”
“I’ve spent enough of my life being protected by lies.”
May you like
Her eyes hardened.
“If someone knows what happened to my mother, we find them.”
