He Knew His Father Was With the Bride

Chapter 4: The Woman Behind the Door

Adrian ran.

He ignored the police, the shouting guests, and Richard's arrest. He followed the live-feed location sent by the investigators toward the west wing of the estate.

Isabella and Camille ran behind him.

They reached the locked room at the end of the corridor.

Adrian kicked the door open.

Eleanor sat tied to a chair.

The armed man lay on the floor beside her, clutching his shoulder. Standing over him was the estate's elderly housekeeper, Margaret, holding a smoking pistol with both hands.

"I always hated guns," Margaret said weakly.

Adrian rushed to his mother.

She was alive.

He cut the ropes and pulled her into his arms.

"I thought he killed you."

Eleanor held him tightly. "He tried."

Isabella entered and stopped at the sight of Margaret.

"You knew about this room?"

Margaret nodded.

"I knew about many rooms."

For forty years, she had served the Vale family. She had watched Richard turn inheritance into power and fear into loyalty. She had also kept records of every visitor, every late-night meeting, and every woman who entered the west wing but never left through the front door.

She opened a cabinet hidden behind the wall.

Inside were boxes of letters, photographs, and tapes.

Camille stared.

"This is everything."

Margaret looked at Eleanor.

"Your husband did not begin these crimes alone."

Eleanor went still.

"What do you mean?"

Margaret pulled out a photograph.

It showed Richard beside a woman much younger than Eleanor, signing documents in a hospital room.

Eleanor recognized her immediately.

Her sister, Helena.

Helena had disappeared twenty-eight years earlier. The family believed she ran away after stealing money.

Margaret shook her head.

"Helena discovered Richard's first fraud. He had her declared unstable and locked away."

Eleanor sank into the chair.

"She's alive?"

Margaret hesitated.

"She was, until six months ago."

She handed Eleanor a sealed letter.

On the front were five words:

For Eleanor, when Richard falls.

Eleanor opened it with trembling hands.

The letter contained one final revelation.

Richard was not Adrian's biological father.

And the man who was had been imprisoned for Helena's disappearance.