Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO WANTED THREE EMPTY BEDROOMS
Richard opened the gates.
Not for Victoria.
For his daughters.
“Come inside.”
Regina shook her head.
“Not without Miss Emily.”
Victoria snapped,
“She is no longer employed here.”
Richard turned.
“I didn’t ask you.”
Silence.
That was the second crack.
Emily walked back through the gates with the triplets holding her hands.
Not as staff.
Not as a servant.
As the only adult they still trusted.
Inside the mansion, Victoria said,
“You are humiliating me in my own home.”
Emily looked around.
Portraits of Richard’s late wife lined the hall.
Three framed school photographs sat on the piano.
The staircase still carried the girls’ colored ribbons from that morning.
Emily answered quietly.
“It isn’t your home yet.”
Richard looked at Victoria.
For the first time, so did everyone else.
Victoria’s expression hardened.
“Play the rest.”
Emily did.
The recording continued.
Victoria said,
“Regina goes to Briarwood.”
Richard froze.
Briarwood was a private boarding academy three states away.
Then:
“Lucy can go to St. Anne’s.”
Another school.
Another state.
Then:
“Valerie is the quiet one. Put her somewhere specialized.”
Richard’s face emptied.
Three girls.
Three schools.
Three different states.
Separated.
Regina began crying.
“You said we could stay together.”
Richard looked at Victoria.
“You told them?”
Victoria said nothing.
That was the third crack.
Emily pulled three cream envelopes from her suitcase.
“I found these in the nursery desk.”
Each carried one girl’s name.
Inside were enrollment applications.
Already filled out.
Already dated.
Already scheduled for the week after the wedding.
Richard looked at the signature line.
His name was there.
He went completely still.
“I never signed these.”
Victoria stepped backward.
Emily looked at him.
“That’s what the girls were trying to tell you.”
Richard closed his eyes.
He had not listened.
That silence became its own punishment.
Then Emily pulled out one final envelope.
Black seal.
No child’s name.
Only four words:
AFTER THE WEDDING CEREMONY.
Victoria whispered,
“Don’t open that.”
Too late.
Richard broke the seal.
Inside was a floor plan of the mansion.
The triplets’ bedrooms were circled in red.
Across all three circles was one handwritten note.
Convert to guest suites.
Richard looked at Victoria.
May you like
She looked away.
And for the first time, the mansion felt too small to hide what she had planned.
