Chapter 3 - The Room at the End of the Hall.
Daniel took the drawing from Natalie's hand too quickly.
Lucas flinched.
That single movement said more than Daniel's explanation ever could.
“We are done with this conversation.”
Natalie looked at him.
Lucas looked at the floor.
Daniel folded the drawing once and placed it on his desk.
Natalie reached past him and unfolded it again.
Daniel's eyes narrowed.
“I said we are done.”
“You are.”
She handed the drawing back to Lucas.
“He isn’t.”
The room went silent.
Lucas clutched the paper against his chest.
Daniel stared at Natalie with the expression of a man unused to having his authority challenged inside his own house.
Natalie expected him to fire her.
Instead, he looked toward his son.
“Go with Evelyn.”
Lucas did not move.
Natalie touched his shoulder.
“I’ll meet you in the library in ten minutes.”
Lucas searched her face.
“Ten?”
“Ten.”
He held up both hands to count.
“Not eleven?”
Natalie smiled faintly.
“Not eleven.”
Only after Lucas left did Daniel speak.
“You cannot make promises you may not be able to keep.”
“I promised ten minutes.”
“I’m not talking about ten minutes.”
Natalie understood.
Daniel walked to the window.
Below them, two black cars waited near the circular drive.
Men with earpieces stood by the gates.
The mansion was beautiful, but nothing about it felt free.
“You asked why people leave,” Daniel said.
“Yes.”
“They leave because being near my family carries risk.”
Natalie absorbed that.
She had read enough newspaper stories before taking the job to know Daniel's fortune had not been built entirely in boardrooms.
But the agency had described the position as high-security household employment.
It had never described a frightened child who slept outside staff bedrooms.
“Then why keep changing the people he depends on?”
Daniel's jaw tightened.
“I did not ask them to leave.”
“No, but you expected them to.”
He turned.
That landed harder than she expected.
Ten minutes later, Natalie found Lucas in the library.
He was waiting beside the grandfather clock.
The second hand crossed twelve as she entered.
Lucas looked at the clock, then at her.
A small smile appeared.
“You came.”
“I said I would.”
For the next hour, they built a fort from sofa cushions.
Lucas barely spoke.
He did not need to.
At noon, he took Natalie's hand and pulled her toward the second floor.
Evelyn stepped from the dining room.
“Lucas.”
The boy stopped.
His fingers tightened around Natalie's.
Evelyn's gaze dropped to their joined hands.
“You know the rules.”
Lucas pulled Natalie in the opposite direction.
They climbed the main staircase and turned into a long corridor overlooking the garden.
At the far end stood a red-painted door.
Everything else in the mansion was cream, walnut, marble, or black iron.
The red door looked like a wound in the wall.
Lucas pointed at it.
“Mama’s room.”
Natalie's breath caught.
Behind them, Evelyn's shoes clicked sharply against the floor.
“Lucas, step away from that door.”
He did not.
Natalie felt his hand begin to shake.
“Why is it locked?” she asked.
Evelyn's face went rigid.
“It has been closed for two years.”
Lucas looked up at Natalie.
“She left from there.”
Evelyn reached them and took a key ring from her belt.
Natalie expected her to unlock the door.
Instead, Evelyn checked the lock twice.
“Mr. Brooks has ordered that no one enters.”
Lucas's eyes filled.
“She said she’d come back.”
Natalie knelt beside him.
“Who did?”
Lucas looked at the red door.
“My mom.”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“That is enough.”
Lucas recoiled as if she had shouted.
Natalie rose.
“He asked a question.”
“No.”
Evelyn's voice dropped.
“He remembered something.”
The distinction made Natalie's skin prickle.
Evelyn took Lucas's hand.
The boy pulled away.
Then something slid from beneath the red door.
All three of them stared down.
It was a small white envelope.
May you like
On the front, in faded blue ink, was one name.
Lucas.
