Chapter 2 - THE EAST WING
Claire woke beneath the white lights of St. Matthew’s Hospital.
A monitor beeped beside her bed.
Her ribs ached with every breath.
A bandage covered the cut near her left temple.
Ethan sat in a chair beside the window.
He had not changed out of his tuxedo.
Dried blood stained one cuff of his shirt.
When Claire opened her eyes, he stood immediately.
“You’re awake.”
Claire looked toward the door.
“Is Eleanor here?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Two officers are outside.”
Claire closed her eyes for a moment.
Ethan moved closer.
“Where have you been?”
The question carried eighteen months of anger, grief, and sleepless nights.
Claire turned her face away.
“I couldn’t come home.”
“You could have called.”
“I tried.”
“You sent one message saying you needed space.”
“That message wasn’t from me.”
Ethan stared at her.
Claire looked back at him.
“Eleanor wrote it.”
The hospital room became painfully quiet.
Ethan shook his head.
“My aunt helped me search for you.”
“She helped you search in every place she knew I wasn’t.”
Claire reached for the water beside her bed.
Her hand trembled too badly to lift the cup.
Ethan helped her drink.
“What happened to you?”
Claire swallowed carefully.
“Three days before I disappeared, I found documents in the east wing.”
“What kind of documents?”
“Trust agreements.”
“Insurance policies.”
“Medical reports.”
“Payments to people who were supposed to be dead.”
Ethan’s expression hardened.
“My father died in a boating accident.”
“That’s what Eleanor wanted everyone to believe.”
“My mother witnessed it.”
“Your mother was already being drugged.”
Ethan stepped back.
“Stop.”
“I know how it sounds.”
“You came back after eighteen months and accused the woman who raised me of murdering my father.”
“She didn’t raise you because she loved you.”
“She raised you because she needed control of your shares.”
Ethan looked toward the window.
Claire watched him struggle against everything he had believed since childhood.
“I found a recording.”
She spoke softly.
“Your father made it two weeks before he died.”
“The silver key opens a private archive hidden behind the east wing library.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Ethan turned sharply.
“You said you found it.”
“I found the archive.”
“I copied one file.”
“Before I could take the rest, Eleanor caught me.”
The door opened.
Detective Naomi Ruiz entered with a notebook in her hand.
She was followed by a uniformed officer.
“Mrs. Hawthorne, I need to ask you about the assault.”
Claire looked at Ethan.
“Where is the key?”
Ethan reached into his pocket.
“I have it.”
Detective Ruiz stopped beside the bed.
“That key was not listed with the evidence collected at the scene.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“I picked it up before the officers arrived.”
Claire gripped the blanket.
“You have to go back to the manor.”
Detective Ruiz raised an eyebrow.
“No one is going anywhere until we understand what happened.”
Claire looked directly at her.
“Then understand this.”
“Eleanor did not push me because she was angry.”
“She pushed me because that key can destroy the Hawthorne family.”
The detective studied her face.
Before she could respond, Ethan’s phone rang.
The mansion’s head of security was calling.
Ethan answered.
May you like
A man’s panicked voice filled the room.
“Mr. Hawthorne, someone set fire to the east wing.”
