Chapter 2 - The First Letter
William carried Charlotte into the library and locked the door behind them.
Emma followed. So did Marcus Vale, the Sterling Foundation’s executive director, who had pushed through the crowd insisting that the gala needed to continue.
“Everyone is already filming,” Marcus said. “We need to control the story before this becomes—”
“My daughter was locked in a wall,” William said. “I do not care about the story.”
Marcus stopped talking.
Charlotte sat on the leather sofa wrapped in William’s dinner jacket. Emma brought her water and crouched beside her.
“Can I look at Bunny?” William asked.
Charlotte shook her head hard.
“Okay. You keep him.”
A folded corner of paper still showed through the seam.
Isabella knocked from the hall.
“William, open the door.”
He ignored her.
“William, this is ridiculous.”
Still nothing.
Marcus leaned close. “Whatever is in that toy, do not open it in front of staff.”
Emma’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“Because private family material belongs to the family.”
“You just called me staff like that meant I didn’t pull his child out of a wall.”
Marcus looked away.
Charlotte suddenly lifted the rabbit toward William.
“Mommy said only Daddy.”
William stopped breathing.
Claire had spent her last six months fighting an aggressive illness. Near the end, she had become secretive about paperwork, passwords, and the foundation’s finances. William had assumed it was fear and exhaustion.
He took the rabbit carefully.
The seam gave way beneath his thumb.
Three folded notes slipped into his palm.
The first was addressed in Claire’s handwriting.
William.
He unfolded it.
If Charlotte is old enough to understand this, I may already be gone. If you are reading it sooner, then someone found the rabbit before I wanted them to.
William’s eyes moved faster.
Do not trust anyone who tells you I was confused at the end. I was not confused. I found something inside the foundation accounts. Money is being moved through children’s medical grants into companies that do not exist.
Marcus went white.
William looked up.
“What?” Marcus said.
William folded the page.
“Claire wrote about the foundation.”
Marcus took one step backward.
Emma noticed.
So did William.
The second letter contained a list of dates, wire amounts, and initials.
M.V.
I.C.
William raised his eyes to Marcus.
Before he could speak, a heavy crash came from the hallway.
Then Isabella screamed.
May you like
When William opened the door, the massive portrait in the gallery was lying face-down on the floor.
And the hidden compartment was on fire.
