DERAILED AND DAMAGED

CHAPTER 8 – THE LETTER

I was still going through the papers when I heard doors creaking,

I froze.

Okay, that was weird, because I made sure I closed the door after Bail’s.

I put my hand in my bag and bought out my favourite toy still bustling with electricity.

“Babe I guess it’s time for an adventure, I whispered. “let’s see who our intruder is. Who knows, we might get some warm up - it’s been a long time, right?”

I walked away from the room to where the sound was coming from. I noticed that the door was closed. Okay that was something. There was no way the person could have escaped that fast, except if it was a professional house burglar.

I moved through the hallway, every step silent as I was trained to. The hallway was very dark except for a silver of moonlight shining through the curtains.

Then I saw it- a white envelope lying in the center of the floor, like a calling card or maybe it was placed there for me to notice.

My gut was right.

Someone was here.

My pulse spiked.

I crouched picking it up with vigilance. No name. No return address.

Just one line written in harsh, uneven link:

“Don’t you want to know what happened to your nanny? Don’t be an i***t- She died because of you.”

The words felt like claws clawing at my heart.

The words blurred as I read them gain.

“No,” I whispered. “No, that’s not true.” I told myself.” She doesn’t even know that I’m alive. How could I be the cause of her death? No, I don’t believe it.”

My poor nanny- she’d to have died naturally, right? Not murdered?

“What if it was true?” I asked myself quietly.

But the longer I stared, the colder I felt.

Still…maybe deep down, I did know that my Nanny’s death wasn’t natural. Maybe I’d just been trying to convince myself otherwise.

For this person to direct the message to me, that meant they already knew my secret and who I am.

Could it be the Shadows? Or Mom? If it was the latter, at least she would have revealed something. But there was no way the Shadows could know who I am- except someone tipped them off. Definitely mom and Dad would never do that. Even if not for my sake, at least for their reputation. And the Dad I would never risk that for anyone.

And there’s no way the Shadows could know my real face. It was impossible.

And then in the corner of the paper, almost hidden:

DV at 2.

I frowned. “DV?”

Okay, why would the sender write DV at the edge of the paper? I started to rack my brain- Is it a place I’d gone before, or a hotel’s name?

My mind was muddled up,

Then it hit me like a jolt.

Devil’s Villa.

My heart skipped.

Which meant someone out there knows everything apart from the three people that knew about Devil’s villa- and two of them are supposed to be dead, leaving me as the only one who knows about that damn place. And I’m very sure I never spilled it to anyone.

I checked the clock. 1:45 p.m.

“Fine,” I muttered.

“Let’s see what game you want to play;

The letter burned in my hand all the while.

DV at 2.