Chapter 1 - THE KEY IN VICTORIA’S HAND.
Adrian Vale entered the blue-lit cellar first and found Nora Shaw restrained to a chair, conscious but shaking. Six-year-old Lily stayed safely behind him while an aide loosened the straps.
“Tell me who did this,” Adrian said.
Nora raised her eyes past him.
At the doorway stood Victoria Vale, his silver-haired mother, still holding the brass key.
“She did,” Nora whispered. “And she told Lily I abandoned her.”
Victoria called the cellar a private recovery room. Nora looked at the lock on the floor.
“Recovery rooms open from the inside.”
Lily ran to her mother only after the aides confirmed she was safe. Adrian ordered police, paramedics and the mansion cameras preserved.
Victoria’s expression remained cold.
“You returned after two years and believed the first frightened servant you saw.”
Nora answered, “I was not your servant. I was the attorney reviewing your guardianship foundation.”
Then she pointed toward the bottle rack.
May you like
“She locked me here because I found the list of families whose homes your charity stole.”
Behind the lowest shelf, a phone began ringing.
