Chapter Ten: The Nursery
908 Words
The music continued downstairs.
Crystal glasses clinked.
Guests laughed.
The charity gala carried on as though nothing had changed.
But on the second floor of Kingsley Manor...
Death had just arrived.
---
Martha slowly backed away from the masked man standing in the nursery doorway.
Her heart pounded against her chest.
"You shouldn't be here," she whispered.
The man didn't answer.
He quietly closed the door behind him.
The soft click of the lock echoed through the room.
Martha's eyes darted toward the window.
Too high.
Toward the hallway.
Blocked.
There was nowhere to run.
"You served this family for thirty-two years," the masked man said calmly.
"You were loyal."
Martha lifted her chin.
"I was loyal to the truth."
A cold chuckle escaped the man's lips.
"That's why you have to die."
Before he could move—
A loud crash echoed from downstairs.
Voices shouted.
Someone screamed.
The masked man turned toward the window.
The distraction lasted only a second.
But it was enough.
Martha grabbed the heavy porcelain lamp from the bedside table and hurled it at him.
The lamp shattered against his shoulder.
The masked man stumbled.
Martha unlocked the door and ran.
---
Downstairs, Isabella and Damian were making their way toward the grand staircase.
"What if we're too late?" Isabella asked.
"We won't be," Damian replied, though he wasn't certain.
Suddenly...
A terrified scream rang through the mansion.
"Murder!"
The orchestra stopped playing.
Guests froze.
Then panic erupted.
People rushed toward the exits.
Security guards pushed through the crowd.
Alexander looked up toward the second floor.
"What happened?"
Before anyone could answer, Martha stumbled onto the landing.
Her uniform was torn.
Blood trickled from a cut above her forehead.
She gripped the banister desperately.
"They're trying to—"
A gunshot echoed through the mansion.
Martha's body jerked.
She collapsed forward.
The crowd screamed.
Isabella gasped.
"No!"
Without thinking, she ran toward the staircase.
Damian followed close behind.
Alexander stared in horror as Martha tumbled down the stairs, coming to rest at the foot of the grand staircase.
Blood stained the white marble floor.
Guests scattered in every direction.
The masked shooter had already disappeared.
---
Isabella dropped to her knees beside Martha.
"Martha!"
The elderly housekeeper struggled to breathe.
Her trembling hand reached for Isabella's.
"I... knew..."
"You'd come back..."
Tears streamed down Isabella's face.
"Don't talk."
"We'll get help."
Martha slowly shook her head.
"There isn't... time."
She slipped a small brass key into Isabella's palm.
"The music box..."
"In Emily's nursery..."
"It opens..."
She coughed violently.
"What does it open?" Isabella cried.
Martha's eyes searched Isabella's face one last time.
"The truth..."
Her hand fell limp.
Martha was gone.
---
Silence filled the mansion.
Even the guests stopped moving.
Alexander stepped forward slowly.
His face was pale.
"Martha..."
For the first time that night, his composure cracked.
Emily broke free from the impostor and ran toward the staircase.
"Martha!"
She burst into tears.
The impostor quickly caught her and pulled her back.
"Don't look."
Emily struggled against her.
"I want Mommy!"
Her cry echoed through the silent ballroom.
She wasn't looking at the impostor.
She was reaching for Isabella.
Every eye in the room turned toward the two identical women.
Guests began whispering.
"Who is she?"
"They look exactly alike."
"What's going on?"
The impostor's confidence began to crumble.
---
Damian leaned close to Isabella.
"We have to leave."
"Not yet."
"They'll seal the mansion."
"I know."
"But Martha died trying to tell me something."
She looked down at the brass key still clutched tightly in her hand.
"The music box."
Damian understood immediately.
"The nursery."
They exchanged a glance.
Neither needed to say another word.
While security rushed toward the front entrance and the guests crowded around Martha's body, Damian and Isabella quietly slipped away.
---
The second floor was eerily silent.
The nursery door stood half open.
Moonlight spilled across the wooden floor.
Everything remained untouched.
The rocking chair.
The tiny bookshelf.
The stuffed rabbit on the bed.
Isabella slowly walked inside.
A strange peace settled over her.
She crossed the room and stopped before the old music box sitting on a white dresser.
Her fingers trembled as she inserted the brass key.
Click.
The lock released.
Inside the music box was no music.
Instead...
There was a small flash drive.
A folded letter.
And an old family photograph.
The photograph showed Alexander, Isabella, and baby Emily smiling together.
Written across the back were the words:
If you're seeing this... they failed to keep you buried.
Isabella unfolded the letter.
It was in Martha's handwriting.
My dear Isabella,
If you have returned, then everything I feared has come true. Trust no one until you know who ordered your death. Even those closest to you may be hiding the truth.
The answers you seek are inside the flash drive. But do not watch it at the mansion.
Someone in this house is always listening.
Before Isabella could read another line—
Footsteps echoed in the hallway.
Heavy.
Purposeful.
Damian quietly drew his gun.
"They've found us."
The nursery door slowly began to open.
A familiar voice came from the darkness.
"Isabella..."
Alexander stepped into the room.
His eyes fell on the opened music box.
Then on the flash drive in Isabella's hand.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke.
Finally, Alexander closed the door behind him.
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"You should have stayed dead."
- Writer
