Chapter 5 - The Sister in the Scullery Apron
The double mahogany doors of the study clicked open.
Arthur Vance walked in, carrying a silver tray with warm chamomile tea and freshly baked lemon shortbread.
Behind him strode Frank, holding a heavy, fireproof aluminum dispatch case retrieved from Victoria Montgomery’s suite in the west wing.
“We cracked her private safe, Don Julian,” Frank reported grimly, slamming the case onto the desk. “Found her encrypted communications logs with her father in London.”
Frank tapped the tablet screen, laying out the decrypted transcripts before Julian.
“Victoria didn't just recognize the lullaby tonight, boss,” Frank said, his jaw tightening with rage. “Her father sent her into this house eighteen months ago specifically to locate Arthur Vance’s missing codicil before the twenty-eighth anniversary of the blast. When she saw Clara’s personnel file with the name Martha Murphy, she knew the true heiress was cleaning floors beneath her feet.”
Julian stood up slowly from the ottoman, his frame towering and dangerous in the firelight.
“What was their plan, Frank?”
“The fireworks display tonight was staged to trigger Lily’s trauma,” Frank answered, his voice trembling with disgust. “Victoria arranged for two of her private contractors to corner Clara in the service scullery during the panic, administer a lethal dose of potassium chloride, and stage it as an accidental fall down the elevator shaft before the anniversary toast.”
My breath seized in my throat.
I looked down at little Lily sleeping peacefully against my hip, cold terror washing over my spine.
If the little girl hadn't run toward the grand piano, if I hadn't sung those eight forgotten lines to calm her tears, I would be lying at the bottom of an industrial hoist shaft right now, another nameless maid whose death would have been forgotten by sunrise.
Julian walked over to where I sat.
He knelt down on the Persian rug, his massive, warm hand gently covering mine where it rested on Lily’s curls.
“You are done running, Chiara,” Julian whispered, his baritone vibrating with an intensity that shook the room. “You are done hiding in the shadows of kitchens and tenements. Tonight, this city learns that the bloodline of the Vance fleet has returned to take its throne.”
He looked at Frank.
May you like
“Bring Charles Montgomery and Victoria into the grand council hall. It is time to open the ledger.”
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