Chapter 12 - The Window Above Poppy's BedRonan reached Poppy's bedroom first.
The window was shattered.
Sadie's heart stopped.
Then she saw her daughter.
Poppy stood beside the bed, alive, clutching the stuffed rabbit against her chest.
Eleanor was already beside her.
“What happened?”
Poppy pointed.
A black arrow had penetrated the window.
Attached to it was a white ribbon.
Ronan moved between Poppy and the glass.
“Everybody out.”
Security flooded the room.
Sadie lifted Poppy.
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
“Did you hear anything?”
“A little click.”
Ronan examined the arrow without touching it.
No explosive.
No visible mechanism.
Just a message.
A crown had been stamped into the ribbon.
This was not an assassination attempt.
It was theater.
Someone wanted them afraid.
That made Ronan furious.
Poppy noticed.
She touched his hand.
“Uncle Ronan?”
He looked down.
“Don't do the scary face.”
Sadie almost laughed.
Even one of the guards looked away to hide a smile.
Ronan stared at Poppy.
“What scary face?”
“This one.”
She lowered her eyebrows dramatically.
Sadie lost the battle and laughed.
Ronan looked offended.
“I don't look like that.”
“You do,” Sadie said.
“Constantly,” Eleanor added.
Her voice was faint.
But perfectly timed.
Ronan looked at his mother.
Betrayed from every direction.
For thirty seconds, fear loosened its grip on the room.
Then Ronan ordered the family moved to the underground safe wing.
At dawn, Dr. Bell arrived.
He recognized the crown immediately.
“I was afraid of this.”
Ronan's stare could have cut stone.
“Apparently everyone knew except me.”
Bell sat down.
“Elias didn't tell you because he believed you were being watched.”
“By whom?”
“I don't know.”
“Everybody keeps saying that.”
“Because the Crown operated through compartments. Marsh knew one section. Your father knew another. Elias spent years trying to connect them.”
Sadie placed Elias's letter on the table.
Bell read it.
When he reached the reference to Declan's hidden evidence, he stopped.
“Ronan.”
“What?”
“Your father once took you somewhere Elias wasn't allowed to go.”
Ronan frowned.
“What are you talking about?”
“Elias mentioned it.”
Ronan searched his memory.
Then something surfaced.
A winter morning.
He had been twelve.
Declan had driven him beyond Ashport into the mountains.
Just the two of them.
They had stopped at an abandoned hunting lodge beside a frozen lake.
Declan had taught him to split wood.
Cook over a stove.
Navigate without a compass.
And before leaving, his father had carved something beneath the kitchen table.
Ronan stood.
“I know where.”
They reached the lodge four hours later.
Sadie came.
Ronan objected.
Sadie ignored him.
Marriage was becoming educational.
The lodge had nearly collapsed.
Snow pushed against the porch.
Inside, the kitchen table remained.
Ronan turned it over.
There was no crown.
No message.
Only three words carved into the wood.
FIRST PLACE HOME.
Sadie frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Ronan looked toward the lake.
“My father used to ask us where home was.”
“What did you answer?”
“Raven Hill.”
“And Elias?”
“He'd say wherever Mom was.”
Sadie smiled.
“That sounds like Elias.”
“My father told us both we were wrong.”
Ronan walked outside.
Beyond the frozen lake stood a small stone structure.
A chapel.
Not unlike the sealed chapel beneath Raven Hill.
Inside, dust covered everything.
Ronan searched the altar.
Nothing.
Sadie walked slowly around the room.
Then she noticed initials carved beneath a windowsill.
D.C.
E.C.
Declan Cain.
Eleanor Cain.
“The first place home,” Sadie whispered.
Not where Declan brought his sons.
Where he brought Eleanor.
Behind the stone was a metal box.
Inside were photographs.
Bank statements.
A ledger.
And a cassette tape.
Back at Raven Hill, they played it.
Declan's voice filled the study.
“If Ronan is hearing this, then I failed.”
Eleanor covered her mouth.
Declan explained the Crown.
Three founding families.
Cain.
Hawthorne.
Vale.
Mercer had joined later.
But one family had secretly taken control.
Declan had discovered who.
Before he could say the name, the recording distorted.
Then stopped.
Ronan slammed his fist against the desk.
Sadie picked up the cassette.
“The tape isn't damaged.”
Bell examined it.
She was right.
Someone had deliberately erased the final section.
Which meant someone had found the box before them.
Someone who had taken nothing except the name.
Ronan looked toward security.
“Who knew about the lodge?”
Eleanor answered softly.
“Five people.”
Declan.
Eleanor.
Ronan.
Elias.
And—
She stopped.
Sadie's stomach tightened.
“And who?”
Eleanor whispered the name.
“Nathan.”
Everyone turned toward Dr. Bell.
Bell slowly raised his hands.
Ronan reached for his gun.
Bell looked at Sadie.
“I can explain.”
Sadie stared at him.
“That sentence has become extremely unpopular in this family.”
May you like
Then Bell said something that changed everything.
“I erased the name because Elias asked me to.”
Related Stories
