Chapter 3 - THE MUSIC BOX
By the time we reached the road above the estate, flames were climbing from the west wing.
My bedroom.
My childhood bedroom.
I tried to get out of the car.
Daniel blocked the door.
“My things are in there.”
“So are firefighters.”
“My mother’s photographs.”
“Emily.”
“The music box.”
He froze.
“What music box?”
I hated myself for saying it.
Daniel saw that.
“The key?”
I looked at him.
“How did you know?”
“Because you just looked like someone burned the answer.”
I told him.
Not everything.
Just enough.
Dad’s brass key.
The music box.
The warning.
Daniel called his security chief.
The fire department had already evacuated the house.
Victoria was outside.
Crying for cameras.
She told police I had suffered a breakdown.
She said I attacked Lawrence Ambrose.
She said I ran away after stealing jewelry and confidential company documents.
I laughed when Daniel told me.
Then I started crying.
Both happened at once.
“She locked me in a room.”
“I know.”
“She hit me.”
“I know.”
“And she’s telling them I’m crazy.”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“She needs you discredited.”
“Why?”
“Because if the original trust surfaces, her control ends.”
The fire was contained at 2:40 a.m.
My room was destroyed.
Almost too precisely.
The bathroom survived.
The hallway survived.
Victoria’s suite survived.
My bedroom did not.
Arson investigators found accelerant.
Someone wanted what was inside.
At dawn, a firefighter carried out a blackened metal music box.
The wood exterior was gone.
The inner compartment remained.
Empty.
The key was missing.
I felt sick.
Then the firefighter handed me something else.
A tiny strip of paper fused beneath the metal lining.
Three handwritten words survived.
LAKE HOUSE.
BLUE FLOOR.
Dad’s handwriting.
Victoria saw it from across the lawn.
Her face changed.
Just for a second.
Then she screamed.
“That belongs to me!”
Daniel stepped between us.
“No.”
Victoria stared at him.
Recognition hit.
“Daniel.”
He smiled without warmth.
“Victoria.”
She looked at his coat around my shoulders.
Then at me.
“You stupid girl.”
A police officer turned.
Victoria corrected herself.
“My poor girl.”
I almost laughed.
Daniel didn’t.
Victoria came closer.
“You don’t know who he is, Emily.”
Daniel said.
“She doesn’t need to.”
Victoria’s eyes narrowed.
“Oh, she does.”
She looked directly at me.
“Ask him why your father tried to destroy his family.”
May you like
Daniel went completely still.
