Chapter 3 - The Night Someone Broke Into the Estate
The photograph stayed on the floor for three seconds before Daniel picked it up.
Three seconds was all it took for Emily to see the terror in his face.
Not anger.
Not disbelief.
Fear.
Ethan stood behind her.
“What does it say?”
Daniel folded the photograph.
“Nothing you need to worry about.”
“But it has Mom.”
“I know.”
“Who put it there?”
Daniel looked toward the hallway.
“Someone who wants to hurt us.”
Ethan's lips trembled.
Emily crouched beside him.
“You're safe.”
“How do you know?”
“Because your dad is here.”
Ethan looked at Daniel.
Daniel nodded.
“I won't let anyone hurt you.”
He believed the words when he said them.
That night, security was doubled.
Every employee was questioned.
Every camera was reviewed.
But the security footage showed nothing.
The intruder had somehow avoided every camera.
Daniel sat awake in his office until three in the morning.
Emily found him there.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m used to it.”
“That's not a good thing.”
She smiled slightly.
“Neither is drinking coffee at midnight.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Why do you care?”
Emily's smile faded.
“Because somebody should.”
The sentence hit harder than she intended.
Daniel looked down.
“You knew my son was hurting.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Because I know what grief looks like.”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“My wife died nine months ago.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Ethan told me.”
Daniel stared at her.
He suddenly remembered the first week Emily had worked in the house.
She had never asked questions about his wife.
She had never gossipied.
She had simply put fresh flowers in the room where Daniel had kept his wife's belongings.
He had found her there once.
She had been crying.
He had assumed it was because something had happened in her own life.
Maybe it had been something else.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“Do you believe my father had something to do with your father's death?”
She took a long time to answer.
“I don't know.”
“But you suspect it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my father told me that someone in your family destroyed everything we had.”
Daniel looked at her.
“My father would never—”
“People always say that about the dead.”
He couldn't argue.
The next morning, the women were informed that the trial was continuing under stricter security.
Vanessa seemed irritated.
Olivia seemed fascinated.
Katherine seemed nervous.
That alone caught Daniel's attention.
“You knew my wife,” he said to Katherine.
She froze.
“I met her once.”
“When?”
“At a charity event.”
“Did she know you?”
“No.”
Ethan walked into the room.
“Katherine?”
She forced a smile.
“Yes?”
“Mom didn't like charity events.”
Katherine's smile disappeared.
“How would you know that?”
“Because she told me.”
Katherine left the room moments later.
Daniel followed.
“You're lying.”
“No.”
“My wife kept journals.”
Katherine stared at him.
“Why are you interrogating me?”
“Because someone is lying to me.”
She suddenly began crying.
“I didn't hurt your wife.”
“I didn't accuse you.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Where were you the night she died?”
Katherine looked away.
“At home.”
Daniel's investigator later discovered she had been at a private club twenty miles away.
Another lie.
She was removed from the trial.
Three women remained.
The same afternoon, Emily received a letter.
She opened it in the laundry room.
Her face drained of color.
Daniel found her sitting on the floor.
“What happened?”
She handed him the letter.
It contained three words.
WE FOUND YOU.
Daniel called security.
Emily shook her head.
“Don't.”
“What?”
“If they know I told you, Ethan could be in danger.”
“They're already targeting Ethan.”
She looked up.
“Then I should leave.”
“No.”
“You don't understand.”
“I understand enough.”
“You don't even know me.”
Daniel knelt in front of her.
“I know you took care of my son when nobody else could.”
Emily looked away.
“He needs someone who doesn't disappear.”
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it's true.”
Daniel's eyes met hers.
“Then don't disappear.”
Something passed between them.
Neither spoke.
Then a crash came from the kitchen.
They ran.
Vanessa stood near the open pantry.
Olivia was behind her.
A drawer had been pulled apart.
Emily stopped.
“That was locked.”
Daniel walked closer.
“What was inside?”
Emily swallowed.
“My father's old documents.”
“Why did you keep them here?”
“Because I didn't have anywhere else.”
Daniel opened the drawer.
Empty.
Then Ethan came running.
“Dad!”
Daniel turned.
Ethan was holding a small silver key.
“I found this under Mom's bed.”
Daniel took it.
“Where did you find it?”
“Just now.”
Emily stared at the key.
“I’ve seen that.”
“Where?”
“My father had one exactly like it.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What does it open?”
“I don't know.”
The key had a tiny engraved symbol.
A crescent surrounding a letter W.
Daniel's father's private logo.
That night, Daniel searched his father's old study.
Behind a portrait, he found a hidden compartment.
Inside was a small metal box.
The key fit.
When he opened it, he found a stack of letters.
The top letter was written by Daniel's mother fifteen years earlier.
Daniel read the first line.
Robert Parker did not betray us.
He was betrayed.
Daniel's heart stopped.
He read the next line.
Your father knows the truth.
And so does someone else.
Daniel turned the page.
The final paragraph was stained with old tears.
If anything happens to me, protect Robert's daughter.
Her name is Emily.
Daniel dropped the letter.
Emily.
The cleaning lady.
The woman his son had instinctively chosen.
The woman who had walked into his life four months earlier.
She hadn't been random.
Someone had placed her there.
Someone had been protecting her.
Or watching her.
And Daniel suddenly understood why the anonymous messages had started.
May you like
The question wasn't whether Emily was hiding a secret.
The question was who had spent fifteen years making sure she never learned it.
