Chapter 2 - The Maid Who Knew What Seven Heiresses Did Not
I hid the frame inside an old linen cabinet behind three boxes of retired tablecloths.
It was the safest place I could think of.
No wealthy guest would ever open it.
No security guard would care.
And Adrian Vale certainly wouldn't search there while half his mansion was hosting seven potential brides and several of Philadelphia's most dangerous men.
At least, that's what I thought.
For the next hour, the entire atmosphere inside Vale House changed.
Music stopped.
Security doubled.
Every guest's phone was collected.
The seven women were separated into different rooms.
Nobody was allowed to leave.
Adrian stood in the center of the gallery, looking at each woman.
He was calm again.
Almost too calm.
“Someone attempted to access my private records tonight,” he said.
Caroline frowned.
“You think one of us did it?”
“I think someone did.”
Vanessa crossed her arms.
“This is absurd.”
Adrian ignored her.
Grant moved toward the seven women.
“Searches will be conducted.”
Rachel looked offended.
“I don't consent.”
Grant smiled without warmth.
“You weren't asked.”
I stayed near the kitchen doors.
Invisible again.
But I could feel Adrian watching me.
Eventually, he walked over.
“Where did you put it?”
I kept my expression blank.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
He stared.
“You lied.”
I whispered, “Not in front of them.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You're learning.”
“Where does that secret room lead?”
He went quiet.
“Not here.”
“Then where?”
“Later.”
“You said someone wants to kill you.”
“Someone does.”
“Is it one of the women?”
“Yes.”
“Which one?”
“I don't know.”
I stared at him.
“You invited seven women into your house and you don't know which one is trying to kill you?”
“I know one of them is.”
“And the others?”
“May be innocent.”
I looked toward the gallery.
One woman was crying.
Another was angry.
Two were whispering.
Caroline looked strangely calm.
I remembered her face when Adrian announced the test.
No surprise.
No excitement.
Calculation.
“I think it's Caroline.”
Adrian's eyes sharpened.
“Why?”
“She wasn't surprised by the rules.”
“That isn't evidence.”
“She wasn't surprised when you mentioned your mother.”
His expression changed.
“You noticed that?”
“I notice everything.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
Then his voice softened.
“That is becoming a problem.”
We returned to the library.
He closed the doors.
“Tell me what you know.”
“I know you disappear every night.”
His face went still.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“And you've followed me?”
“Once.”
“Why?”
“I found the frame.”
He leaned against the desk.
“You should leave.”
“I have nowhere to go.”
“Then I'll give you money.”
“I don't want it.”
“Everyone wants money.”
“I don't.”
He studied me.
“Why?”
I thought about my rent.
My mother's medical bills.
The bank account that had barely survived the month.
But I still shook my head.
“Because money isn't what you're afraid of losing.”
Something almost like admiration appeared in his eyes.
“What do you think I'm afraid of?”
“Her.”
I pointed toward the hallway.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
He walked to the window.
“Her name was Elena.”
I waited.
“She wasn't supposed to exist in my father's world.”
“Your father?”
“Gabriel Vale.”
I knew the name.
Everyone in Philadelphia did.
The man who built the original Vale organization.
The man rumored to have ordered dozens of killings.
The man who had died in prison.
Adrian's face hardened.
“My father killed people.”
“You're saying your mother was innocent?”
“She was.”
“What happened?”
“She tried to leave.”
He paused.
“He wouldn't let her.”
I felt a chill.
“Did he kill her?”
“I don't know.”
“You don't know?”
“She disappeared when I was seventeen.”
Adrian looked down.
“Everyone told me she had abandoned me.”
“But you didn't believe them.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because she left me one thing.”
“The photograph?”
He nodded.
“I found it twenty years later.”
I frowned.
“Then why hide it?”
“Because the last time someone found something connected to my mother, six men died.”
I thought of the photograph.
“What does it prove?”
“That my mother wasn't alone.”
“Who was she with?”
Adrian looked at me.
“A man who was supposed to be my father's enemy.”
The door opened.
Grant stepped inside.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“We found something.”
He handed Adrian a phone.
A surveillance image.
A woman walking through the service corridor.
Caroline.
Adrian's expression changed.
“Where's Nora?”
I answered before Grant could.
“Here.”
He looked at me.
“Stay with Grant.”
“Why?”
“Because you're not safe.”
I almost laughed.
“I clean bathrooms for a living.”
“Exactly.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know where everything is.”
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot came from the gallery.
Adrian moved instantly.
He pushed me behind him.
“Stay down.”
People screamed.
Another shot.
Grant returned fire.
The emergency lights came on.
Caroline was lying on the floor.
Blood covered her dress.
Adrian ran toward her.
“Call an ambulance!”
She grabbed his wrist.
“Don't trust…”
She looked directly at me.
“…the maid.”
I froze.
Everyone turned.
My heart pounded.
Adrian stared at me.
Then at Caroline.
Before anyone could speak, another gunshot echoed from upstairs.
Grant's hand moved to his weapon.
“Someone is still inside.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Nora.”
“You're going upstairs because someone wants you there.”
He stopped.
I pointed toward the corridor.
“That gunshot came from the service stairwell.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I clean it every morning.”
Grant stared.
Adrian nodded.
We moved together.
The stairwell was empty.
But something lay on the steps.
A white envelope.
Adrian picked it up.
Inside was a second photograph.
Elena Vale.
And beside her stood my mother.
I didn't breathe.
“My mother?”
Adrian looked at me.
The photograph was dated twenty-three years earlier.
The back contained one sentence.
THE GIRLS ARE NOT THE TARGET.
NORA IS.
Adrian's face went cold.
He grabbed my hand.
“We're leaving.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere I can keep you alive.”
“Why me?”
May you like
He stared into my eyes.
“Because I think your mother and mine were trying to protect the same secret.”
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