Chapter 10 - The House Divides
By dawn, the estate had become a battlefield without gunfire.
Doors locked. Gates sealed. Phones collected from staff. Guards repositioned. Cameras reviewed. Lawyers summoned. Two board members escorted into the library and kept there with coffee strong enough to revive the dead.
Dalia remained in the safe room, but rest was impossible.
Every few minutes, footsteps passed outside. Voices rose and fell. Once, something heavy crashed above her. Bobby growled until Rowan’s voice came through the hallway, calm and absolute, ordering everyone back.
Mrs. Hargrove brought broth and toast.
Dalia stared at the tray. “How long have you known?”
The housekeeper sat beside the bed.
“About which sin?”
“Any of them.”
Mrs. Hargrove folded her hands. “I knew Mr. Salvatore was dangerous. I knew Mrs. Bianca enjoyed power without responsibility. I knew Enzo was cruel. I knew Daniel Marsh did not belong in this house.”
“But Rowan’s father?”
Her face tightened.
“I suspected too late.”
Dalia softened. “That is not the same as doing nothing.”
Mrs. Hargrove looked at her.
For a moment, the steel left her spine.
“I have told myself that for years.”
Before Dalia could answer, alarms sounded.
Red lights flashed in the corners of the room.
Mrs. Hargrove stood.
Bobby sprang up.
The intercom crackled.
Rowan’s voice came through. “Hargrove, lock the inner door.”
She moved immediately.
“What is happening?” Dalia asked.
“Someone opened the south gate.”
“Enzo?”
Mrs. Hargrove locked the door and turned the deadbolt.
Then the hallway camera flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Black.
Dalia’s blood chilled.
Mrs. Hargrove whispered, “No.”
“What?”
“The safe room cameras are on a separate circuit.”
Bobby began barking.
Not at the door.
At the wall.
A low mechanical sound came from behind the medical cabinet.
Mrs. Hargrove grabbed Dalia’s arm. “Get up.”
“I can’t run.”
“You will.”
The cabinet slid open.
Behind it was a service hatch.
And behind the hatch stood Enzo Fiero with a pistol in his hand.
Mrs. Hargrove stepped in front of Dalia.
Enzo smiled. His face was scratched, his hair wild, his suit ruined by mud.
“Hello, Aunt Eleanor.”
Mrs. Hargrove stiffened.
Dalia stared at her.
Aunt?
Enzo laughed. “She never told you? Loyal Hargrove. Silent Hargrove. The servant saint. She was born Eleanor Fiero before she married beneath herself and got erased from the portraits.”
Dalia looked at Mrs. Hargrove.
The old woman’s face was white.
Enzo stepped into the room.
“Move.”
Mrs. Hargrove did not.
Enzo aimed the pistol at Dalia.
“I said move.”
Bobby attacked.
The room became chaos.
The dog slammed into Enzo, knocking the pistol aside. It fired into the ceiling. Dalia screamed. Mrs. Hargrove pulled her from the bed. Pain shot through Dalia’s ankle, but fear held her upright.
Enzo cursed, fighting Bobby with both hands as the mastiff drove him against the wall.
“Go!” Mrs. Hargrove shouted.
They stumbled toward the inner door.
It opened from outside.
Rowan stood there.
For one heartbeat, nobody moved.
Then Rowan saw Enzo.
His face became something Dalia would never forget.
Not anger.
Judgment.
Enzo shoved Bobby away and reached for the pistol.
Rowan crossed the room before he touched it.
The fight was brutal and short. Rowan struck Enzo once in the throat, once in the ribs, then drove him to the floor with a force that made the medical tray jump.
Enzo laughed through blood.
“You still don’t know who opened the gate.”
Rowan’s hand closed around his collar.
“Tell me.”
Enzo spat red onto the floor.
“She did.”
He looked at Mrs. Hargrove.
Dalia turned.
Mrs. Hargrove’s lips parted. “No.”
Enzo grinned. “Not you, Aunt Eleanor.”
His eyes slid toward the doorway.
“Your mother.”
Rowan went still.
Dalia felt the room drop away.
Rowan’s mother was dead.
Everyone knew Rowan’s mother was dead.
Then a woman’s voice came from the hallway.
“Hello, my son.”
Rowan slowly turned.
At the end of the corridor stood a woman in a gray coat, older but elegant, her face pale beneath the emergency lights.
Bobby stopped growling.
Mrs. Hargrove made a sound like a prayer breaking.
Rowan whispered, “Mother?”
May you like
The woman smiled.
And behind that smile, Dalia saw the final secret come home.
