Chapter 13 - THE LAST ROOM IN THE MANSION
Grant did not speak for several minutes.
Finally, he said:
“I was there.”
Evelyn felt the room disappear.
“When?”
“The night your mother died.”
Evelyn stared at him.
“You were a child.”
“I was sixteen.”
“What happened?”
Grant looked down.
“My father and Vivian were fighting.”
“About my mother?”
“Yes.”
“What did you see?”
Grant closed his eyes.
“I saw your mother leave.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Evelyn's breath caught.
“Then what?”
“She got into her car.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don't know.”
Grant's voice broke.
“An hour later, my father came home covered in blood.”
Evelyn stepped back.
“What?”
“He told me never to speak about it.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he said if I did, Vivian would make you disappear.”
Evelyn stared at him.
For years, she had believed her mother died in an accident.
But she had not.
Claire had left the Whitmore mansion alive.
Someone had followed her.
Someone had attacked her.
And Grant knew.
Evelyn felt anger rising.
“You should have told me.”
“I was a child.”
“You were sixteen.”
“I was terrified!”
“So was I!”
The silence between them became unbearable.
Marcus entered.
He had been listening.
“There is one place we haven't searched.”
“What?”
“The old boathouse.”
They returned to the Whitmore estate.
The boathouse stood at the edge of the property.
Inside, beneath the floorboards, they found a metal box.
Inside was Claire's journal.
The final pages were missing.
But one sentence remained.
If I disappear, the person who knows the truth is not Vivian. It is the boy.
Grant read the words.
His hands shook.
The boy.
Him.
Then Evelyn found something else.
A key.
Engraved with the initials N.W.
Marcus stared at it.
“Nathaniel.”
They returned to the facility.
Nathaniel saw the key.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Your mother gave me this.”
“What does it open?”
Nathaniel looked at Evelyn.
“The room beneath the house.”
“What room?”
“The one Vivian never found.”
Evelyn's heart pounded.
May you like
Nathaniel whispered:
“The room where the empire began.”
