Chapter 4 - The Locked Room
Nora was gone before sunrise.
At least, that was the plan.
She packed one uniform, eighty-three dollars in cash, her mother’s bracelet, and the fake passport Adrian had once given her.
She reached the servants’ entrance at 5:12 a.m.
Roman was sitting on the steps.
No guards.
No weapon visible.
Just Roman.
Waiting.
Nora stopped.
“How did you know?”
“You checked this exit three times yesterday.”
Of course he noticed.
“Move.”
He did.
Immediately.
That surprised her.
“You’re not stopping me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because if I physically prevent you from leaving, I'm no better than the man you're running from.”
Nora’s grip tightened around her bag.
Roman stood.
“But before you go, there’s something you deserve to see.”
“No.”
“It concerns your mother.”
That stopped her.
Roman led her toward the west wing.
A section of Blackmere House Nora had never cleaned.
At the end of the corridor stood a locked door.
Roman opened it.
Inside was a bedroom preserved beneath white dust sheets.
He pulled one away.
A desk.
Another.
Bookshelves.
On the wall were photographs.
Nora entered slowly.
One showed Eleanor Vale.
Beside her stood Roman’s mother.
They were smiling.
Friends.
“What is this?”
“My mother’s private office.”
Roman opened a drawer.
Inside were letters.
Dozens.
Every one addressed to Eleanor.
None sent.
Nora read the first.
Then the second.
By the third, she had to sit down.
Roman’s mother, Catherine, had known Eleanor discovered the stolen charity funds.
She had tried to help.
Roman’s father had found out.
Then both women disappeared from public life within months.
“My mother died in a car accident,” Roman said.
Nora looked up.
“You don't believe that anymore.”
“No.”
Roman opened another drawer.
A hidden compartment.
Inside was a flash drive.
Elias arrived with a laptop.
The video on the drive was fourteen years old.
Catherine Blackmere appeared on-screen.
She looked frightened.
“If Roman finds this someday, then I failed.”
Roman froze.
Nora looked at him.
Catherine continued.
“Victor believes fear makes people loyal. Adrian Cross believes pain does. They are both wrong.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Then Catherine said:
“Eleanor has the original ledger. I helped her take it.”
Nora turned toward Roman.
His father had not been protecting Eleanor.
His mother had.
The recording continued.
“If anything happens to us, the evidence cannot remain with either family.”
Eleanor appeared beside Catherine.
Younger.
Alive.
Nora stopped breathing.
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
“Naomi, if you ever see this, I'm sorry.”
Nora began crying silently.
“I had to let Cross believe you knew nothing. He would use you to find the ledger. I thought separation would last weeks.”
Eleanor swallowed.
“It became years.”
The recording ended abruptly.
Nora stared at the blank screen.
Roman remained motionless.
Two children had been destroyed by secrets their parents had buried.
Except they were not children anymore.
And someone was still killing to keep those secrets buried.
A crash came from downstairs.
Elias touched his earpiece.
His expression changed.
“Security breach.”
The lights went out.
Roman moved instantly.
“Nora, behind me.”
Gunfire cracked through the lower floor.
Nora flinched.
Roman caught himself before touching her.
Even now.
Even with armed men inside his home.
He remembered.
They moved through a concealed staircase.
At the bottom, Elias received another transmission.
Then swore.
“What?”
“The attack is a diversion.”
Roman understood first.
“The security archive.”
They ran.
By the time they reached the surveillance room, smoke filled the corridor.
Someone had destroyed the servers.
But one attacker remained.
Elias pinned him against the floor.
Roman crouched beside him.
“Who sent you?”
The man smiled through blood.
“Your brother.”
Nora looked at Roman.
“Your brother?”
Roman's expression went dead.
“I don't have a brother.”
The attacker laughed.
“That's what Victor told you.”
Then he bit down.
Elias tried to stop him.
Too late.
Poison.
Seconds later, he was dead.
That afternoon, Elias began searching sealed family records.
At 6:40 p.m., he entered Roman’s study carrying a birth certificate.
Roman read it.
His face drained of color.
Victor Blackmere had fathered another son.
A son born twenty-nine years ago.
Mother:
Eleanor Vale.
Nora stared at the document.
Then at Roman.
Her mother had a child with Roman’s father.
Which meant somewhere in the world Nora had a half brother.
And Roman had one too.
The same man.
The phone on Roman’s desk rang.
Roman answered.
A distorted voice spoke.
“You've found me.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed.
May you like
Then answered.
“Ask Nora why her mother buried me.”
