Chapter 6: The Room Victoria Hid From Everyone
Chapter 6: The Room Victoria Hid From Everyone
The words on the paper refused to disappear.
“Emma Torres is the only person who can uncover what I left behind.”
Emma read the sentence again.
Then again.
But no matter how many times she looked at it, the meaning remained impossible.
Victoria Sterling had died two years ago.
Emma had never met her.
At least…
that was what she believed.
“How?” William whispered.
His eyes were fixed on Emma.
“How could my wife know your name?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
But William wasn’t looking at her like he was angry.
He was looking at her like he was searching for a memory.
A missing piece.
Something buried deep inside the past.
“You worked here before Victoria died?”
Emma nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Almost four years.”
William looked surprised.
“Four years?”
“Yes.”
“Then you knew her.”
Emma hesitated.
“I knew of her.”
The billionaire stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Emma looked down.
For years, she had kept this memory locked away.
Because it had seemed meaningless.
Just a strange moment.
Just a small interaction with a woman who had everything.
But now…
it felt like the beginning of something.
“Three months before Victoria passed away, I found her crying.”
William froze.
“When?”
“In the east garden.”
Emma remembered the night clearly.
It had been raining.
Victoria had been sitting alone beneath the old stone archway.
No makeup.
No perfect clothes.
No public smile.
Just a woman who looked completely exhausted.
“She saw me and asked me not to tell anyone.”
William’s voice became quiet.
“What did she say?”
Emma swallowed.
“She said…”
She paused.
“She said, ‘Sometimes the people closest to you are the ones who know exactly where to hurt you.’”
William closed his eyes.
The sentence clearly affected him.
“Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
Emma looked at him.
“Because I thought it was a private moment.”
A painful silence followed.
Then Ethan spoke.
“Mom was scared.”
Everyone looked at him.
The boy stared at the floor.
“She used to check the doors every night.”
William’s face changed.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because she told me not to.”
“Why?”
Ethan’s voice became smaller.
“She said if Dad knew, he would try to fix it.”
Emma frowned.
“Fix what?”
The boy looked toward the hidden passage.
“She said some things couldn’t be fixed.”
The answer sent a chill through the room.
William took a deep breath.
“We need to find what Victoria left behind.”
Emma looked at the note.
“Where do we start?”
Ethan pointed toward the drawing again.
“The library.”
Everyone became silent.
The old library.
The room Victoria warned Ethan about.
The room nobody mentioned.
William looked toward the exit.
“Come with me.”
The Sterling mansion looked different now.
The same expensive paintings.
The same marble floors.
The same golden decorations.
But Emma no longer saw beauty.
She saw hiding places.
Every hallway.
Every locked door.
Every silent corner.
The mansion wasn’t just a home.
It was a battlefield where everyone had been pretending.
As they walked toward the library, William’s phone rang.
He checked the screen.
His expression immediately changed.
“Who is it?” Emma asked.
He didn’t answer.
Because the caller ID only showed one word:
Unknown.
William answered.
“Hello?”
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then a distorted voice came through.
“William.”
The billionaire froze.
Emma saw his face lose color.
“Who is this?”
The voice ignored the question.
“You found the boy.”
William tightened his grip on the phone.
“Who are you?”
“You should have listened to Victoria.”
The call continued.
“You should have believed her.”
William’s jaw tightened.
“What did you do to my wife?”
A pause.
Then:
“I didn’t kill Victoria.”
The voice became colder.
“But I know who did.”
Emma and Ethan exchanged a look.
William stepped forward.
“Tell me.”
The person on the phone laughed softly.
“You still think this is about one person.”
A pause.
“It isn’t.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means your wife discovered something that powerful people would kill to protect.”
William’s voice became angry.
“Where are you?”
The answer came immediately.
“Closer than you think.”
Then the call ended.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Finally, William put the phone away.
“Did you recognize the voice?” Emma asked.
“No.”
But his face said something different.
Emma noticed.
“You’re lying.”
William looked at her.
“I’m not.”
“You’re hiding something.”
The billionaire looked frustrated.
“Emma…”
“No.”
Her voice remained calm.
“You want the truth from everyone else, but you’re still protecting secrets.”
That hit him.
Because she was right.
William looked away.
“When Victoria died…”
He stopped.
Then continued.
“There was one person I suspected.”
“Who?”
“My brother.”
Emma was stunned.
“Your brother?”
“Alexander.”
“Why would you suspect him?”
William’s expression darkened.
“Because Victoria was investigating him.”
The pieces started connecting.
The company problems.
The threats.
The hidden letters.
The symbol.
The mysterious phone call.
But Emma still didn’t understand.
“What was she investigating?”
William looked at the library door ahead.
“We never found out.”
He opened the door.
The old library was exactly as Emma remembered.
Thousands of books.
Dark wooden shelves.
A fireplace.
A room frozen in time.
But tonight, something felt different.
William walked inside slowly.
“She spent hours here before she died.”
Emma looked around.
“Looking for something?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
William shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Ethan walked toward a bookshelf.
Then stopped.
“Wait.”
Everyone looked at him.
The boy touched a small wooden box hidden behind the books.
Emma stepped closer.
“Did you know this was here?”
Ethan shook his head.
“No.”
William carefully pulled the box out.
It was locked.
But there was something attached to it.
A small silver key.
Emma recognized it immediately.
Her breath caught.
“Where did you get that?”
William looked at her.
“I found it in Victoria’s jewelry drawer after she died.”
Emma stared.
“You never used it?”
“No.”
“Why?”
William looked embarrassed.
“Because I thought it was just an old key.”
Emma took it.
Her hands trembled.
A key Victoria kept hidden.
A box Victoria wanted protected.
A message written with Emma’s name.
Everything was connected.
She inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The box opened.
Inside were three things.
A photograph.
A flash drive.
And a handwritten document.
William picked up the photograph first.
The moment he saw it…
he stopped breathing.
Because the picture showed Victoria.
Standing beside someone.
Someone Emma recognized.
Someone who should not have been there.
Someone who changed everything.
William whispered:
“No…”
Emma looked at the photograph.
Her heart sank.
Because standing beside Victoria Sterling…
was Isabella.
But the photograph was not from the wedding.
It was dated five years earlier.
Five years before Isabella became William’s wife.
Five years before anyone knew her name.
William stared at the picture.
His voice was barely audible.
“My wife knew Isabella before I did.”
The room went silent.
Then Emma picked up the document.
At the top were four words.
Words that made her blood run cold.
THE STERLING FAMILY FILE
And underneath:
“If Isabella comes into this house, it means the plan has already started.”
Emma looked at William.
The truth was finally opening.
May you like
But it was far more dangerous than they imagined.
End of Chapter 6
