Chapter 10 - The Memory Her Mother Buried
“I don't know where anything is.”
Willa paced the penthouse.
Jared had already ordered every employee confined and vetted.
Miles searched camera logs.
Roman followed Willa from room to room.
He had eaten a small meal that afternoon, but now his attention stayed fixed on her.
Almost protective.
“Think about Elena's words,” Jared said.
“Willa is the key.”
“I heard her.”
“She believed you knew something.”
“I was seventeen.”
“Memory doesn't always feel important when it happens.”
Willa stopped.
“Don't psychoanalyze me.”
“I wouldn't dare.”
She gave him a look.
Despite everything, the tension broke for half a second.
Then Willa remembered something.
Her mother had loved puzzles.
Not complicated ones.
Little games.
Birthday scavenger hunts.
Notes tucked into lunch boxes.
One phrase returned unexpectedly.
When you're lost, start where the story begins.
Willa whispered it.
Jared looked up.
“What?”
“My mother used to say that.”
“Where did your story begin?”
“Brooklyn.”
“More specific.”
Willa closed her eyes.
A house.
Not the apartment she lived in now.
The small row house where she grew up.
Sold after Rebecca died.
“Home.”
An hour later they stood outside the house.
New owners lived there.
Jared's people handled the explanation with money Willa refused to ask about.
The basement looked different.
Painted walls.
New shelving.
But one thing remained.
A wooden support column carved with tiny height marks.
WILLA - AGE 6.
AGE 8.
AGE 10.
Willa touched the letters.
Her mother had made those lines.
“Start where the story begins,” she whispered.
At the bottom of the column, near the floor, was a tiny carved crown.
Jared crouched.
“Kensington symbol?”
“No.”
Willa remembered.
“My mother called me Princess Willa when I was little.”
She pressed the carving.
Nothing.
Jared examined the base.
A section rotated.
Inside was a narrow waterproof tube.
Willa stopped breathing.
Miles opened it carefully.
One sheet of paper.
Coordinates.
And a phrase.
THE KING WITHOUT A CROWN.
Jared stared.
“My father's country house.”
“What?”
“He had a statue there.”
“Of a king?”
“No.”
Jared's expression changed.
“Of a chess king.”
They drove north.
The Kensington estate had been abandoned since Dominic's death.
Snow began falling as they entered the grounds.
Willa stared at the enormous stone house.
“You grew up here?”
“Yes.”
“No wonder you're weird.”
Jared looked at her.
“That was almost affectionate.”
“It wasn't.”
Roman, now strong enough to walk slowly, remained close beside her.
Inside the old study stood a marble chess set.
One oversized king in the center.
Jared lifted it.
Nothing.
Willa crouched.
“Your father suspected Sebastian?”
“Elena said so.”
“Would he hide proof where Sebastian couldn't take it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why make a clue?”
“For me.”
Willa looked at him.
“Not you.”
Jared frowned.
She pointed toward the underside of the chessboard.
Initials were scratched into the wood.
R.T.
Rebecca Thornton.
Jared stared.
“My mother was here.”
Miles lifted the board.
A hidden compartment opened.
Inside rested a black ledger.
Jared exhaled.
“Found it.”
A voice behind them answered.
“Yes, you did.”
They turned.
Sebastian Vale stood in the doorway.
Older now than in the photographs.
Same scar.
Same cold eyes.
Three armed men stood behind him.
And beside Sebastian—
Brendan.
Willa's blood ran cold.
Brendan smiled.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
Every old instinct screamed at her.
Make him calm.
Don't challenge him.
Don't look afraid.
Brendan stepped forward.
“Come here.”
Willa didn't move.
His smile faded.
“You always had trouble listening.”
Jared shifted in front of her.
Sebastian raised his gun.
“Don't.”
Jared stopped.
Sebastian looked toward the ledger.
“Eighteen years.”
He almost laughed.
“Rebecca made this very inconvenient.”
Willa stared at him.
“You killed my mother.”
Sebastian shrugged.
“She should have forgotten what she saw.”
Roman growled.
Brendan glanced toward the dog.
“Still alive?”
Willa's hatred surprised her with its clarity.
“You poisoned him.”
Jared turned.
Brendan smiled.
“Not enough to kill him.”
Jared's face transformed.
“You.”
“I needed him weak.”
“Why?”
“So Elena would panic.”
The room went silent.
Brendan continued.
“Roman saw me that night.”
Willa felt sick.
“You were there when Elena died.”
“Yes.”
Jared lunged.
Three guns lifted.
Willa grabbed his arm.
Sebastian smiled.
“Elena discovered too much.”
Jared's voice was almost inaudible.
“Did you kill her?”
Sebastian looked toward Brendan.
Brendan's smile vanished.
And that was when Willa understood.
May you like
Sebastian hadn't killed Elena.
Brendan had.
