For a moment, nobody moved.
The phone in Elias's hand continued ringing.
Nia stared at him.
The man outside waited.
Then the ringing stopped.
Silence settled over the apartment again.
"Don't open that door," Elias said.
Nia almost laughed.
"Who said anything about opening it?"
Elias looked at her.
She had never seen him like this.
Her uncle was usually the calm one. Even when her mother had been sick, even when the doctors had delivered news that left Nia unable to breathe, Elias had remained steady.
But now his hands were shaking.
That frightened her more than the stranger outside.
Another knock came.
Three slow knocks.
"Miss Carter."
The voice was closer this time.
Nia looked toward the door.
"How does he know my name?"
Elias didn't answer.
"Uncle Elias."
"Stay away from the door."
"Who is he?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
Elias's eyes hardened.
"I am trying to keep you safe."
"From whom?"
He looked at the photograph on the table.
That was all the answer Nia needed.
She picked it up.
"Is this about Damian Vale?"
Elias closed his eyes.
The stranger knocked again.
"I know you're inside."
Nia's heart began beating faster.
Elias lowered his voice.
"Go to your room."
"I'm not twelve."
"I know."
"Then stop treating me like a child."
He stared at her for a long moment.
Then he walked toward the door.
Nia followed.
He immediately turned.
"I said stay back."
She folded her arms.
"Then tell me what's happening."
Elias rubbed his forehead.
"You want the truth?"
"Yes."
"Then listen to me carefully."
He lowered his voice.
"The man outside works for Damian Vale."
Nia looked toward the door.
"Why would a billionaire send someone to my apartment?"
"I don't know."
"You're doing it again."
"I don't know, Nia."
The frustration in his voice made her pause.
He looked exhausted.
Not guilty.
Scared.
There was a difference.
Elias reached for the door.
Nia grabbed his arm.
"What are you going to do?"
"Find out why he's here."
He opened the door only a few centimetres, leaving the security chain in place.
A man stood in the hallway.
He was younger than the stranger at the cemetery, perhaps in his early thirties.
Tall.
Broad-shouldered.
His charcoal suit looked expensive without being flashy. He had no umbrella, but his coat was damp from the rain.
His eyes moved from Elias to Nia.
"Mr. Carter."
"Elias."
The man's gaze settled on Nia.
"Miss Carter."
"Who are you?"
"My name is Marcus Hale."
He reached into his jacket.
Elias immediately stiffened.
Marcus stopped.
"I'm not armed."
He slowly removed a black business card and held it toward the gap in the door.
Elias took it.
Nia leaned forward.
There was a silver emblem printed on the card.
The same crown.
Her stomach tightened.
"You're from Vale Group," she said.
Marcus looked at her.
"Yes."
"What does Damian Vale want with me?"
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he glanced at Elias.
"Mr. Vale would like to speak with Miss Carter."
"Why?"
"Personally."
Nia laughed once.
"That's convenient."
Marcus remained expressionless.
"He has asked me to bring her to Vale House tomorrow morning."
"No."
Elias answered so quickly that Marcus didn't even look surprised.
"She isn't going anywhere."
Marcus nodded.
"I expected you to say that."
"Then why come?"
"Because Mr. Vale asked me to deliver this."
He produced a second envelope.
This one was black.
Nia's eyes narrowed.
"What is it?"
"A letter."
"From Damian?"
"Yes."
She looked at Elias.
He shook his head.
"Don't."
Nia ignored him.
She stepped closer.
Marcus held the envelope through the narrow opening.
Nia took it.
The moment it touched her hand, she noticed something embossed into the paper.
The same crown.
She looked at Marcus.
"Why does your company use this symbol?"
"It's the Vale family crest."
Her fingers tightened around the envelope.
"Why was it on my mother's letter?"
Marcus's expression changed.
Only slightly.
But Nia noticed.
"You knew about the letter."
"No."
"You reacted."
"I reacted to the question."
"That's not an answer."
Marcus studied her.
"You have your mother's eyes."
The words were so unexpected that Nia forgot what she was about to say.
"Did you know her?"
"No."
"Then how do you know what she looked like?"
Marcus hesitated.
"Mr. Vale showed me the photograph."
Nia's chest tightened.
"Damian has seen it?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Tonight."
She stared at him.
"Why?"
Marcus glanced toward the envelope in her hand.
"Because he received news that your mother had died."
Nia swallowed.
"He knew my mother?"
"I believe that is something Mr. Vale wants to explain himself."
Elias stepped forward.
"She isn't going."
Marcus looked at him.
"I won't force her."
"Good."
"But I would advise you not to underestimate the importance of tomorrow's meeting."
Elias's expression hardened.
"I understand exactly how important it is."
Marcus looked between them.
"I don't think you do."
He turned to leave.
Then stopped.
"Miss Carter."
Nia looked up.
"If I were you, I wouldn't open that letter tonight."
She frowned.
"Why?"
Marcus's eyes moved briefly to Elias.
"Because whatever you think you know about your mother..."
He paused.
"...you probably don't know half of it."
Then he walked away.
The elevator doors closed.
Nia stood in the doorway.
She slowly looked at Elias.
"What does that mean?"
"Come inside."
"Uncle Elias."
"Please."
Something in his voice made her obey.
He closed and locked the door.
Then he checked it twice.
Nia watched him.
"You're scared."
"No."
"You are."
Elias leaned against the door.
"I've been scared for twenty-six years."
The words stopped her.
"What?"
He looked at her.
"I shouldn't have said that."
"No."
Nia stepped closer.
"You don't get to do that."
"Do what?"
"Give me half a sentence and expect me to forget it."
Elias sighed.
"Your mother wanted to protect you."
"From Damian Vale?"
"From the people around him."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying again."
"I don't know everything."
"Then tell me something."
Elias looked at the photograph.
"Your mother met Damian when she was young."
Nia waited.
"How young?"
"Twenty-five."
Her throat tightened.
"She was twenty-five in that photograph."
"Yes."
"So that picture was taken when they met?"
"I don't know."
"Did they have a relationship?"
Elias looked away.
"Yes."
The word landed heavily.
Nia sat down.
Her legs suddenly felt weak.
"My mother never told me."
"I know."
"Why?"
"Because she wanted you to have a normal life."
Nia gave a bitter laugh.
"A normal life?"
She looked around the small apartment.
"My entire childhood, we struggled. She worked two jobs. We sometimes couldn't pay rent on time. She told me my father abandoned us."
Elias said nothing.
"Was that a lie?"
"No."
Nia looked at him.
"Then what is the truth?"
Elias took a long breath.
"Your mother believed Damian was dangerous."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
"You keep saying that."
"Because it's true."
Nia looked down at the black envelope.
She wanted to open it.
More than anything.
But Marcus's warning had planted a seed of doubt.
She turned it over.
There was no address.
No stamp.
Nothing except the silver crest.
"Did Damian send someone to the funeral?"
Elias didn't answer.
"Uncle Elias."
"I don't know."
"The black car?"
He looked at her.
"I don't know."
"The man who gave me the first envelope?"
"I don't know who he was."
Nia stood.
"Then we're going to find out."
"How?"
She held up the black envelope.
"Tomorrow.
Nia didn't sleep.
At two in the morning, she was still sitting on the edge of her bed.
The rain had stopped.
The city outside was quiet.
She had placed the photograph beside her.
Her mother smiled from a life Nia had never known.
There was something strange about seeing her that way.
Happy.
Young.
Free.
Nia traced the edge of the photograph with her fingertip.
"Who were you before me?"
She whispered the question into the darkness.
No answer came.
Her phone vibrated.
Nia nearly dropped it.
Unknown number.
She stared at the screen.
A message appeared.
Don't go to Vale House.
Her heart started pounding.
Before she could reply, another message came.
Your mother didn't trust them. You shouldn't either.
Nia sat upright.
She typed:
Who is this?
The reply came almost immediately.
Someone who knows what happened twenty-six years ago.
Nia's fingers hovered over the screen.
She typed again.
Tell me.
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
They appeared again.
Then a final message arrived.
Ask Damian Vale why your mother left him.
Nia stared at the words.
Left him.
Not why he left her.
Why she left him.
That changed everything.
She looked at the photograph again.
Her mother hadn't looked afraid.
She had looked happy.
So what had happened?
And why had she spent twenty-six years pretending Damian Vale didn't exist?
Nia's phone vibrated again.
One final message.
And whatever you do, don't trust Victoria Vale.
Nia frowned.
Who was Victoria Vale?
She searched the name online.
The first results made her sit up straighter.
Victoria Vale.
Chairwoman of the Vale Foundation.
Philanthropist.
Businesswoman.
Socialite.
A photograph appeared.
An elegant woman in her late fifties stood beside Damian at some charity event.
Nia stared at her face.
Something about her expression made Nia uncomfortable.
She didn't know why.
Then she noticed the date of the photograph.
It had been taken six months earlier.
Nia switched off her phone.
She couldn't think anymore.
Tomorrow, she would meet Damian Vale.
And she would ask him everything.
Who was her father?
Why had her mother left him?
Why had the Vale family known about her?
And most importantly...
Why had nobody told her she was connected to them?
Nia finally lay down.
But just as she closed her eyes, she remembered something.
The gold crest on her mother's envelope.
She had seen it before.
Not recently.
Not in a photograph.
In her mother's bedroom.
There had been an old wooden box hidden beneath the bed.
Nia had seen it when she was a child.
Her mother had snatched it away from her and told her never to touch it.
At the time, Nia had forgotten about it.
Now she couldn't.
She sat up.
The wooden box.
Where was it?
Nia got out of bed and walked quietly into her mother's room.
She switched on the small lamp.
The room looked exactly as it had that morning.
Her mother's clothes were still hanging in the wardrobe.
The bed was neatly made.
A Bible sat on the bedside table.
Nia crouched beside the bed.
Her hands searched underneath it.
Nothing.
She moved to the wardrobe.
Nothing.
Then she remembered the old chest at the back of the closet.
She pulled it forward.
Her heart began beating faster.
There was a wooden box underneath it.
Small.
Dark.
Covered in dust.
And on its lid was the same golden crest.
The Vale family crest.
Nia stared at it.
For twenty-six years, her mother had hidden this from her.
Tonight, Nia finally understood why.
Whatever was inside that box had something to do with Damian Vale.
And tomorrow, before she ever stepped into Vale House...
Nia was going to find out what her mother had been hiding.