Chapter 4 - The Whispers of the East WingThe rain outside Blackwood Manor had turned into a torrential downpour, lashing against the reinforced glass windows of the grand library like handfuls of gravel.
Inside, the atmosphere was thick with tension. Clara sat by the fireplace, wrapping a warm woolen blanket around little Valentina, who had finally fallen asleep, exhausted by the night's terrifying events. Diego stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, the charred manila folder resting on the mahogany table beside him like a loaded weapon.
"Twins," Diego muttered, his reflection in the dark glass looking older, harder, and infinitely more dangerous than it had twenty-four hours ago. "For nine years, my mother made me believe there was only one child—a child she claimed died within minutes of birth. But she split them up. Why?"
"To create a spare and a shadow," Clara said softly, her eyes fixed on the flickering orange flames. "Or worse... to hide one away while the other was raised as the designated heir. Think about it, Diego. If something happened to Valentina, the primary line would have no biological continuation. But if she kept a second child hidden—somewhere outside the estate, away from your direct gaze—she could control both ends of the dynasty."
The heavy oak doors of the library clicked open. Julian Pearce, Diego’s chief legal counsel and lifelong friend, hurried inside, shaking rainwater from his shoulders and holding a secure tablet.
"Diego, you’re not going to believe what forensic accounting pulled from the charred fragments of Mrs. Gable’s incinerator logs," Julian said, his voice urgent. "We ran a cross-reference on the financial transfers tied to the secondary hospital registry in upstate New York. There was a monthly stipend paid out for nine years to an address in the old industrial district across town."
Diego turned sharply. "An address belonging to whom?"
"A private foster registry managed under an alias," Julian replied, tapping the screen to display a high-resolution digital file. "But look at the recent activity logs. Two days ago—right after Valentina wandered out of the staff quarters and into the main hall—someone accessed that account from a secure IP address registered inside this manor."
Clara stood up slowly, her instincts flaring. "Someone inside the house tipped them off. They knew we found the button."
"Worse," Julian added grimly, sliding the tablet across the table to Diego. "Look at the most recent photo logged in the system taken by the local monitoring camera outside that upstate address yesterday afternoon."
Diego looked down at the screen. The breath rushed out of his lungs.
It was a photograph of a little girl sitting on a stone wall, wearing a red coat identical to Valentina’s, holding a stuffed rabbit identical to Benny. She had the exact same dark curls, the exact same nose, and the exact same piercing brown eyes.
May you like
Except she wasn't smiling. She was staring directly into the lens of the security camera with an expression of cold, eerie detachment.
"Her name is Maya," Julian whispered. "And according to the transport logs... she was brought into the city three hours ago."
