Chapter 10 - THE MISSING PAGE
I returned to the study and pulled the entire stack from the safe. Martha’s letters. Her journal entries. The dated notes describing Vanessa’s threats. I spread them across the desk, sorting by date, my hands steady now.
This was our strongest weapon. Proof that Vanessa had hated Martha long before any of this. Proof she had threatened Caleb. Proof she had sought revenge.
I reached the last page of the final journal.
It ended mid-sentence.
My stomach dropped.
The paragraph cut off sharply: “…and she told me she would make sure Adrian never learned the truth until it served her purpose. She said she would marry him and—”
That was it. The bottom edge was ragged. Torn clean off.
I scrambled through the folder. Through every envelope. Every loose sheet. The page was gone.
I stood frozen. Someone had removed it. Someone had known what it said.
And then I remembered.
The night I found the file. The night I read it for the first time. I had been so stunned by the truth that I had barely noticed the physical condition of the papers. I had simply put everything back and locked the safe.
But now I saw it. The tear was fresh. Or at least, it had been torn after the file was placed there.
Someone had been in that safe. Someone had known exactly which page to remove.
I walked to the door and checked the lock. Unbroken. No signs of forced entry. Which meant… someone had the combination.
My mother. Or Vanessa.
Vanessa had been arrested days after I found the file. She could not have returned to the safe. Which left…
My breath caught.
Evelyn had the combination. She had chosen it. She had used it for years.
But why would she remove the page? What had Martha written that Evelyn did not want me to see? Or did not want anyone to see?
I paced the room, the torn edge burning in my sight.
*“She said she would marry him and—”*
And what? And what would Vanessa do? And what was Evelyn hiding now?
Had she removed it to protect me? Or to protect herself? Or to protect something even darker that connected her to everything that had happened?
I grabbed the phone and called Eleanor.
“Something is missing,” I said. “The last page of Martha’s journal. Torn out.”
“Did you see it the first time you read it?”
I hesitated. “I don’t know. I was in shock. I might not have noticed.”
“Who else has access to the safe?”
“Only my mother. And me.”
Eleanor was quiet for a moment. “Adrian… think carefully. Who would have reason to remove it? If it implicated someone… or revealed something that changes everything…”
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”
I hung up and walked toward the east wing. My mother’s door stood slightly ajar. I heard her on the phone, voice low, urgent.
I paused outside.
“…the page is gone, Evelyn. He knows.”
My blood ran cold.
She was talking to someone. About the page.
“…he cannot find it. Not yet. Not until we know what Martha wrote.”
A pause. Then her voice, softer, terrified.
“Because if he reads what she said about me… about what I did… he will never forgive me. And then we lose everything.”
I stepped back, heart pounding.
She had removed it. Evelyn had torn out the page. And she was talking to someone about it. Someone who knew. Someone who was helping her hide it.
I turned and walked quietly away before she heard me. I returned to the study, locked the door, and sat staring at the ragged paper.
*“She said she would marry him and—”*
And what?
What had Martha written that was dangerous enough to tear out? What had Evelyn been part of?
Had Evelyn known Vanessa’s true identity before the marriage? Had she encouraged it? Had she made a deal?
The thought turned my stomach. But the evidence was there. The secrecy. The marriage. The page torn out after I found the file.
Evelyn had protected a secret. Not just Martha’s. Her own.
And now, with the appeal approaching, and the truth leaking everywhere… she was terrified of what that page would reveal.
I picked up the phone and called Eleanor again.
“Evelyn has it,” I said quietly. “She tore it out. And she’s hiding what Martha wrote.”
“Then we need to find it,” Eleanor said. “Before the hearing. Before Vanessa uses it against you.”
“Or before Evelyn destroys it.”
“Be careful, Adrian. If she’s hiding something this big… it’s worse than you imagine. Whatever is on that page… it changes everything.”
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I looked at the clock. Six days until the hearing. Six days to find the missing page. Six days to learn what Evelyn had done. And six days to keep Caleb safe while the people closest to me hid secrets that could ruin us all.
Somewhere, in this house, was the answer. And I was going to find it. No matter who it hurt.
