Chapter 4 - The Letter Behind the Wall
Grace opened the emergency latch again while Richard and security watched.
Inside the playroom, one wall panel had been recently loosened.
Behind it sat Catherine’s second letter, a ledger and a small recorder wrapped in one of the twins’ baby blankets.
Victoria tried to leave.
Richard blocked her.
“You locked my sons in here because they found this.”
Victoria’s voice turned venomous.
“I was protecting this family from two spoiled boys and a servant who taught them to distrust their own blood.”
Grace stepped between Victoria and the children.
“Blood did not comfort them in the dark. Blood locked the door.”
The ledger showed that Catherine discovered millions missing from a trust created for Bellamy domestic workers, drivers and groundskeepers.
Employees had accepted reduced wages during the family company’s financial crisis, believing the deductions would fund retirement housing and medical care.
Instead, Margaret converted the money into a private foundation and used it to renovate the mansion.
The marble beneath their feet had been paid for by workers who retired with nothing.
Richard read the entries in disbelief.
Victoria sneered.
“Do you truly believe maids and gardeners should own part of a family estate because they accepted smaller paychecks?”
Grace’s voice rose.
“They accepted hunger so your family could survive. You repaid them by calling their sacrifice generosity from the Bellamys.”
The recorder contained Catherine arguing with Margaret and Dr. Sloan.
Catherine threatened to expose the trust theft.
Margaret answered, “Then we will make sure no court believes you.”
A final male voice ordered them to proceed.
Richard recognized it immediately.
It belonged to his father, Charles Bellamy—who had supposedly died six years before Catherine.
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Then the chandelier lights flickered.
A concealed door beneath the staircase opened from inside.
