Chapter 3 - ASHES
The fire was extinguished within seven minutes.
It was still long enough to destroy half of Victoria’s private study.
Elena stood outside the room while firefighters carried blackened boxes into the hallway.
The smell of smoke filled the second floor.
Julian came toward her.
“You were right.”
“About what?”
“The fire started in the fireplace.”
Elena looked past him.
“There hasn’t been a fire in that fireplace for months.”
“I know.”
Richard appeared behind his son.
His face was grim.
“The security system shows Victoria entered the study eleven minutes before the alarm.”
Elena looked down the corridor.
Victoria was speaking quietly with her attorney.
“She burned the letter.”
“We don’t know that.”
“I do.”
Julian studied Elena.
“What was in it?”
“My mother never told me.”
“You never read it?”
Elena shook her head.
“She made me promise not to open it unless I believed someone from the Harrington family was trying to hurt me.”
Julian stared at her.
“You carried it for four years without opening it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my mother was terrified when she gave it to me.”
Richard walked closer.
“What exactly did Isabel say?”
Elena remembered the hospital room.
Her mother had been thin and weak.
But the fear in her eyes had been unmistakable.
“She said there were people who would rather destroy me than allow the truth to come out.”
Richard’s shoulders dropped.
“I should have found her.”
Elena looked at him.
“My mother didn’t want you to.”
“That doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have tried.”
Victoria walked toward them.
Her attorney remained several feet behind.
“You’re all being dramatic.”
Julian stared at her.
“Did you burn the letter?”
“No.”
“Did you take it?”
“No.”
“Then why did you enter your study immediately after Elena discovered it was missing?”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“My private movements are none of your concern.”
“They became my concern when you framed an innocent employee for felony theft.”
Victoria turned to Richard.
“Control your son.”
Richard almost laughed.
“You lost the right to ask me for anything tonight.”
For the first time, genuine anger cracked Victoria’s composure.
“You think this woman is innocent?”
She pointed at Elena.
“She came here using a fake employment history.”
Elena froze.
Julian noticed.
“What?”
Victoria continued.
“Her references were manufactured.”
“Her previous employer never existed.”
“And her real surname isn’t Morales.”
Richard looked at Elena.
“What is your real surname?”
Elena’s throat tightened.
She had known this moment might come someday.
She had simply hoped she would be prepared.
She wasn’t.
“My legal name is Elena Torres.”
Richard sat down slowly.
Victoria nodded.
“Exactly.”
Julian looked confused.
“Why does that matter?”
Richard answered before Elena could.
“Because Torres was Isabel’s surname.”
Julian looked at Elena again.
“You changed your name to get hired here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena met his eyes.
“Because I needed access to this house.”
Silence.
Julian’s face hardened.
“To do what?”
Elena looked toward the burned study.
“To find out what happened to my mother.”
Richard stared at her.
“What happened to her?”
Elena’s voice dropped.
“She didn’t die naturally.”
And from somewhere behind them, a glass shattered.
They all turned.
May you like
Victoria stood perfectly still.
But the champagne glass that had been in her hand was now broken across the floor.
