Chapter 5 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE MIRROR
We found the hidden room at 1:17 in the morning.
It was behind a mirror in Eleanor's private library.
Adrian pushed it aside after finding a small brass mechanism hidden beneath the frame.
The wall clicked.
A narrow door opened.
Dust filled the air.
I held Lucia close.
"This is insane."
Adrian looked at me.
"My family has been insane for generations."
We stepped inside.
The room was smaller than I expected.
There were boxes everywhere.
Photographs.
Letters.
Bank statements.
Old passports.
And dozens of photographs of my mother.
As a teenager.
As a young woman.
Pregnant.
Holding me as a baby.
I touched one.
My mother was smiling.
She looked happy.
I hadn't seen that expression on her face in years.
"Why did she leave?"
Adrian picked up a letter.
"I think this explains it."
I took it.
The letter was addressed to Eleanor.
If they discover the child, they'll kill her too.
My blood ran cold.
"What child?"
Adrian looked at me.
"You."
I shook my head.
"My mother wasn't hiding me from your family."
"Maybe she was hiding you from someone inside the family."
I kept reading.
Rosalie, you cannot take the girl and disappear. They will find you.
No signature.
No date.
I turned the page.
A second letter.
This one was written by my mother.
Eleanor, if I vanish, tell my daughter that I never abandoned her. I left because loving her was the only way I could keep her alive.
My vision blurred.
"She left me to protect me."
Adrian nodded.
"I think so."
"Then why did she never come back?"
He didn't answer.
We found another box.
Inside was a cassette tape.
Adrian found an old player.
He pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then my mother's voice.
Young.
Terrified.
"Mom, if you're hearing this, I'm already gone."
Eleanor began crying.
My mother's voice continued.
"I found out who started the fire."
A pause.
Then:
"It wasn't Dad."
Adrian froze.
"Who was she talking about?"
My mother continued.
"It was someone I trusted."
The tape crackled.
"Someone who knows about the trust."
Then a man's voice interrupted.
"Rose."
My mother screamed.
The recording ended.
I stared at Adrian.
"Who was that?"
"I don't know."
Eleanor whispered:
"I do."
She looked toward the door.
"My husband."
Adrian's grandfather.
I stared at her.
"Your grandfather tried to kill my mother?"
Eleanor shook her head.
"No."
Her voice broke.
"He tried to kill me."
Silence.
"Then who?"
Eleanor closed her eyes.
"My brother."
I looked at her.
"Your brother?"
"He wanted the entire fortune."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"I thought my grandfather was an only child."
"He told everyone that."
Eleanor looked at me.
"Because my brother was disowned."
"Why?"
"He murdered someone."
The room seemed to shrink.
"Who?"
Eleanor whispered:
"Rose's fiancé."
I stopped breathing.
"My mother had a fiancé?"
"Before she disappeared."
"Who was he?"
Eleanor didn't answer.
Adrian found another photograph.
A young man stood beside my mother.
On the back:
Daniel Bennett.
I stared.
"Bennett?"
Eleanor nodded.
"Your mother's husband wasn't the first Daniel Bennett."
My stomach dropped.
"What?"
"Your mother's real husband died before you were born."
I couldn't breathe.
"Then who was the man I grew up calling my father?"
Eleanor's face went white.
"That is the question."
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Adrian immediately stepped in front of Lucia.
"Stay behind me."
The footsteps stopped.
Then the door slammed shut.
We heard a lock click.
Someone had trapped us inside.
Adrian rushed toward the door.
Locked.
I screamed for help.
Nothing.
Then smoke began slipping beneath the door.
Lucia coughed.
Adrian ripped a chair apart and attacked the lock.
I grabbed the little girl.
"Hold your breath."
The smoke thickened.
Then, through the darkness, we heard a voice outside.
A man's voice.
Calm.
Almost amused.
"Rose should have stayed dead."
I froze.
Because I knew that voice.
I had heard it once before.
At my mother's funeral.
It belonged to the man who had stood beside me and told me:
Your mother would want you to move on.
May you like
My father.
Daniel Bennett.
