Chapter 3 - The Letter Beneath the Seal
“There’s a second seal beneath the flap.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
He turned the envelope over and pointed to a narrow line beneath the official seal. It was almost invisible, hidden beneath the fold.
“I’ve seen this marking before,” he said.
“Where?”
“On a letter Elena sent to my mother the week before she vanished.”
“Can you open it?”
“Not here.”
“Why?”
“Because if this is what I think it is, it may be evidence.”
A strange calm came over me.
“Open it.”
“Claire—”
“I have nothing left to protect.”
His eyes held mine.
“That isn’t true.”
I looked down at the three monitors tracing the lives inside me.
For the first time that night, I understood that what I protected was no longer only mine.
“Open it,” I repeated.
Julian nodded.
He placed the envelope on the small table and took a slim pair of scissors from the inside pocket of his jacket. He cut carefully along the edge, avoiding the original seal.
Inside were the termination papers, the confidentiality agreement, and a folded sheet of cream-colored paper.
I recognized the handwriting before he opened it.
Ethan’s.
Julian read silently.
His face changed.
“What?” I asked.
He handed me the page.
The message was short.
Claire—
If you’re reading this, then things did not go as planned.
Do not trust anyone from the house.
Do not contact Sabrina.
Most importantly, do not let the babies be registered under my name until you learn the truth about Elena.
I wanted to tell you everything, but I no longer know who is watching me.
There is a key in the place where your mother kept her wedding ring.
Find it before they do.
E.
I read it twice.
Then a third time.
The paper shook in my hand.
“He wrote this before he fired me.”
Julian took the page back.
“Or someone wants you to think he did.”
“He knew about Elena.”
“He knew enough to use her name.”
“And he knew my mother kept a wedding ring.”
“Do you know where?”
I closed my eyes.
For years, my mother had kept a small wooden sewing box in the back of her closet. After she died, I had packed it into a storage unit because I couldn’t bear to sort through her belongings.
I remembered the box clearly.
Blue paint chipped along the lid.
A brass clasp.
Inside were spools of thread, old buttons, a measuring tape, and one velvet pouch.
My mother’s wedding ring had never been in it.
At least, I had never seen one.
“Her storage unit,” I whispered.
Julian leaned closer.
“Where?”
“Queens. I still have the key.”
“Then we’ll go tomorrow.”
“No.”
He frowned.
“I’m going alone.”
“You’re in premature labor.”
“I’m not leaving this hospital.”
“Good. Neither am I.”
I looked at him.
“You can’t stay here all night.”
“I can.”
“Why?”
His answer came quietly.
“Because your mother asked me to protect you.”
I wanted to reject the words. I wanted to tell him I didn’t need saving, that I had survived five years in Ethan’s world without him.
But the truth was simpler.
I was exhausted.
I was frightened.
And for the first time since leaving the mansion, someone had given me a choice without demanding anything in return.
I lowered my gaze.
“Did you love your sister?”
Julian’s face went still.
“Yes.”
“Do you think Ethan hurt her?”
“I think Ethan knows what happened to her.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Then don’t turn him into a villain just because you need an answer.”
His eyes lifted to mine.
“You sound like your mother.”
I stiffened.
“You knew her well?”
“Not well enough.”
He sat in the chair beside the bed.
“Your mother came to me after Elena disappeared. She was terrified. She said Daniel had taken her somewhere safe, but she wouldn’t tell me where. She asked me to promise that if anything happened to her, I would watch over you.”
“Why would she trust you?”
“Because Elena trusted me.”
“What happened to my father?”
Julian’s hands folded between his knees.
“Daniel died in a warehouse fire six months before you were born.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“My mother said he died in a car accident.”
“She wanted you to believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because the fire wasn’t an accident.”
I felt cold.
“Was Ethan there?”
“His company owned the warehouse.”
I stared at the dark window.
Outside, the rain had slowed to a fine mist. City lights blurred across the glass.
“My mother spent her whole life afraid.”
“I think she spent it trying to keep you alive.”
“And now she’s gone, and everyone is telling me pieces of a story that should have been mine.”
Julian nodded.
“That’s why I came.”
A nurse entered to check the monitors again. She spoke softly to me, adjusted the IV, and assured me that the babies remained stable.
When she left, I asked Julian, “How did you find me tonight?”
He glanced toward the window.
“Ethan’s driver.”
“Which one?”
“Marcus.”
I knew him. Marcus had driven Ethan for almost ten years. He rarely spoke, but he had always been kind to me, once leaving a bag of groceries outside the staff entrance when he learned I was sick.
“He called you?”
“He sent a location.”
“Why?”
“He said Ethan told him to find you before anyone else did.”
My chest tightened.
“Ethan sent you?”
“Not directly.”
“Then what did he say?”
“Only this: ‘If Claire leaves the house, make sure she reaches someone who knows about Elena.’”
I looked down at the message again.
Do not trust anyone from the house.
It seemed to contradict everything.
Unless Ethan knew his own household was no longer under his control.
“Why would he send me away if he was worried about me?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why freeze my bank account?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why choose Sabrina?”
Julian’s expression shifted at the name.
“Maybe Sabrina isn’t the reason.”
“What does that mean?”
“Maybe she’s a distraction.”
From whom?
The question remained between us.
A soft knock came at the door.
Mara Ellis returned with a man in a dark suit. He carried a leather folder and wore the cautious expression of someone accustomed to entering rooms where families had been arguing.
“This is Daniel Cho,” Mara said. “He’s the attorney Mr. Cross mentioned.”
“I’m not signing anything.”
“You don’t have to,” Daniel said. “I’m here to explain what you may already possess.”
Julian stood.
“What did you find?”
Daniel looked at the paper in his hand.
“Where did this come from?”
“Ethan’s envelope.”
Daniel’s expression became serious.
“Then we need to leave it untouched.”
“I already read it,” I said.
“That’s not what I mean.” He opened his folder and removed a magnifying glass. “The paper contains a watermark.”
He held it beneath the lamp.
At first, I saw nothing.
Then faint lines appeared beneath the handwritten message. A symbol took shape, followed by a series of numbers.
Julian stepped closer.
“What are those?”
Daniel examined the page.
“Coordinates.”
My pulse quickened.
“Coordinates to where?”
He copied them onto a notepad and checked them against his phone.
His face lost color.
“Claire,” he said carefully, “these coordinates lead to a private cemetery in Queens.”
I swallowed.
“Whose cemetery?”
Daniel looked at Julian.
Julian had already understood.
“No,” he whispered.
I stared between them.
“What?”
Daniel turned the notepad toward me.
“The Bennett family plot.”
The three heartbeats continued beneath my hand.
Then Julian pointed to the final mark hidden beneath Ethan’s message.
A tiny handwritten letter.
E.
“Elena,” he said.
But Daniel shook his head.
“No. Not Elena.”
He looked at me.
“It stands for Ethan.”
May you like
And beneath the coordinates, in ink so faint it could only be seen at an angle, was a date.
The date of my birth.
