Chapter 6 - The Name Hidden Under Her Mother's Signature
Emma stared at the address.
She knew it.
A small house in Pennsylvania.
The place where she had spent the happiest years of her childhood.
Before her mother suddenly packed everything.
Before they moved.
Before her mother started checking the locks every night.
Victor folded the note.
“We're going there.”
Emma shook her head.
“My mother destroyed that house.”
“Maybe she wanted you to believe that.”
They left the basement through the hidden passage.
The mansion remained eerily quiet.
Every clock had stopped.
Victor checked his watch.
12:17.
The same time shown on the photograph from twelve years ago.
Emma noticed.
“Victor.”
He looked.
She pointed to the clock.
“Was that your mother's time of death?”
Victor's expression changed.
“Yes.”
A coincidence didn't feel like a coincidence anymore.
They reached the study.
Victor opened a locked drawer.
Inside was an old leather file.
Emma saw her mother's name.
Sarah Lawson.
Victor pulled out the papers.
There were photographs.
Contracts.
Payment records.
And one letter.
Emma recognized her mother's handwriting.
Victor handed it to her.
Emma opened it.
Eleanor, if anything happens to me, protect Emma.
Her hands trembled.
Another line followed.
She doesn't know what she carries.
Emma looked up.
“What did I carry?”
Victor didn't answer.
She read further.
The key is inside the chair.
Emma turned toward him.
“The chair.”
Victor nodded.
They returned to the dining hall.
The forbidden chair waited in silence.
Victor turned it upside down.
Inside the carved wooden frame was a narrow compartment.
He opened it.
A small brass key lay inside.
And beneath the key was a folded photograph.
Emma opened it.
Her mother stood beside Eleanor.
Between them was a young Victor.
And behind them stood a man Emma had never seen.
Victor stared.
“My uncle.”
Emma looked closer.
There was something in his hand.
A small black device.
The same kind hidden beneath the chair.
“He was the spy.”
Victor shook his head.
“Maybe.”
Emma frowned.
“Maybe?”
“My uncle wasn't smart enough to build this system.”
“Then who was?”
Victor's phone suddenly rang.
The caller ID showed:
MARGARET HALE.
Emma stared.
Victor answered.
No one spoke.
Then a woman's voice whispered:
“Victor, you need to listen carefully.”
He froze.
“Margaret?”
“Yes.”
“You're alive.”
“For now.”
Emma stepped closer.
Margaret continued.
“The man you think is your father isn't the man you should fear.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“Where are you?”
“Don't ask.”
“Why?”
“Because someone is listening.”
Victor glanced at the chair.
Margaret continued.
“Emma must leave the mansion immediately.”
Emma's heart jumped.
“Why?”
Margaret went silent.
Then she whispered:
“Because the spy already knows she found the chair.”
The line disconnected.
Victor looked at Emma.
The front doors slammed open.
Several armed men entered.
Victor pulled Emma behind him.
A voice called from the entrance.
“Victor Blackwood.”
Victor raised his weapon.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“You know exactly who I am.”
He stepped into the light.
Emma recognized him from the photographs.
May you like
Victor's uncle.
Alive.
