Chapter 6 - THE HIDDEN DATE (CONTINUED)
I stared at the papers, my heart hammering painfully against my ribs. The ink was clear. Unmistakable. Adrian had been with Vanessa long before my mother had even gotten sick. He had been transferring property to her while Elena was still alive. While she was suffering. While she was slowly being poisoned.
“He… he lied to me,” I whispered. “All this time. He told me Vanessa came later. That he had only met her after Mama was gone. That he married her because he thought it would be good for me.”
Julian reached across the table and covered my hand with his own. His palm was warm, but his expression was grave.
“People lie for many reasons, Mia. Some are terrible. Some… are meant to protect.”
“Protect me from what?” I pulled my hand away, pointing at the documents. “From the truth? That he was cheating on her? That he gave Vanessa things that belonged to Mama? That he might have helped kill her?”
“Easy,” Marcus said quietly. “Do not jump to conclusions. These documents prove that Adrian was dishonest. That he kept secrets. That he was involved with Vanessa far sooner than he admitted. But they do not prove he murdered Elena.”
“Then why did he lie?” My voice cracked. “Why hide it? Unless… unless he had something to hide.”
Julian stood up and walked to the window, staring out at the darkening woods. “Victoria said the same thing. She told you to look at the dates. To ask yourself why he really married Vanessa. She knew. She knew exactly what these papers would show.”
He turned back to face us.
“Which means someone sent her here specifically to find out what we know. Or perhaps… to make sure we see these dates and draw exactly the wrong conclusion.”
I frowned. “Wrong conclusion? The dates are right there.”
“They are,” Julian agreed. “But Elena knew. She knew about Vanessa. She knew about the transfers. She wrote about it in her journals. She wrote that Adrian was being manipulated. That Vanessa had something on him. Something terrible. Something that forced him to do whatever she said.”
Marcus looked up sharply. “You have Elena’s journals?”
“She sent them to me. Months before she died. Along with a letter. She wrote that if anything happened to her… I was to read the journals carefully. That Adrian was not the enemy. That he was a prisoner.” Julian walked over to a locked cabinet in the corner, opened it, and pulled out a stack of leather-bound books and a sealed envelope. “She wrote that she trusted him with her life. But she also wrote that she feared he would be the first one they would destroy.”
He laid the journals gently on the table.
“Elena suspected she was being killed because she was getting too close to the truth. Not about Adrian. But about the people controlling him. About the real mastermind behind everything.”
I looked from the documents to the journals, then down at the key resting against my chest.
“So Vanessa is just a pawn,” I said slowly. “Just like Victoria said.”
“Exactly,” Julian said. “Which means there is someone above her. Someone pulling the strings. Someone powerful enough to force Adrian to marry Vanessa. To transfer Elena’s property. To poison Elena. To try to kill Adrian. And to send Victoria to the hospital to retrieve the key.”
“And whoever they are… they want us to believe Adrian is guilty,” Marcus finished. “They want us to turn against him. To distrust him completely. So that when he wakes up… we won’t believe a word he says.”
I touched the key. Victoria had been so certain. So confident. She had wanted me to hate my father. She had wanted me to see him as a traitor.
But if Adrian was truly guilty… why had Elena trusted him enough to protect me? Why had she left everything in his name? Why had she sent Julian to protect me should anything happen to him?
“Adrian knew he was in danger,” I said quietly. “That’s why he sent for Julian. That’s why he filed the deeds and moved the papers. He was trying to protect what Mama left behind. Before Vanessa… or whoever is behind her… could take it all.”
Julian nodded slowly. “He was buying time. And he knew he wouldn’t survive it.”
“We need to know what is in the final box,” Marcus said, looking at the key around my neck. “Whatever Elena hid… it contains the proof. The names. The crimes. Everything.”
“Where is it hidden?” I asked.
Julian looked at me. “Only you can unlock that secret. Elena told me only one thing about the hiding place. She said… it is where she began. Where she felt safest. Where no one would ever think to look.”
I thought hard. My mother’s childhood home? A place she had visited often? Somewhere in this house?
“She grew up here,” I whispered. “In this house.”
Julian’s eyes widened slightly. “Yes. She was born here. We grew up here together. She inherited it from our parents. But… she sold it years ago. Or so we thought.”
“She didn’t sell it,” I said, realization slowly dawning. “She transferred it into the trust. Into my name. Just like the mansion. Just like everything else. So no one could touch it. And she hid the box… somewhere inside this very house.”
Marcus stood up, his voice urgent. “If that is true… then whoever sent Victoria here might already know. They might have been watching us. Waiting for us to lead them to it.”
Julian walked to the window again. He scanned the tree line, the driveway, the dark shadows beneath the oaks.
“Then we find it tonight,” he said. “Before they do.”
He turned back to me.
“Mia… what else did your mother give you? What other clues did she leave behind? Anything at all. A drawing. A story. A date. A phrase she used to say to you.”
I closed my eyes. I thought of the gold stars. The lavender scent. The photographs. The things she had left in her study. The things she had whispered to me in the letters Adrian read aloud on my birthdays.
And then I remembered. One phrase. Written in her handwriting, on the back of a photograph she had given me when I was very small.
*“Where the light falls longest.”*
I opened my eyes. “She wrote something. On the back of a picture. ‘Where the light falls longest.’”
Julian’s breath caught. He looked at Marcus. “The west attic. The room at the very top. Three windows facing due west. Elena used to sit there every evening. She called it her sanctuary.”
He reached for the flashlight on the table.
“Stay close to me. Both of you. And if anything happens… Marcus, you take Mia and you run. Do not wait for me. Do not look back. Understood?”
Marcus nodded solemnly.
May you like
Julian led the way out of the kitchen and toward the stairs. I followed, clutching the key in my hand, my heart pounding. Somewhere out in the darkness, people were watching. People who had killed my mother. Tried to kill my father. Sent Victoria to take the key.
And now… we were about to walk straight into the one place they had been searching for years.
