Chapter 10: The Locked Study
599 Words
The Sterling estate was silent when Adrian returned.
Amara waited in the car.
“You should stay here,” Adrian said.
“No.”
“This could be dangerous.”
“So was everything else.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You don't have to prove anything.”
“I know.”
She stepped out of the car.
“I'm coming.”
They entered the estate together.
The house was dark.
Too dark.
Adrian turned on the lights.
Nothing happened.
“Power's out,” he said.
“Convenient.”
He gave her a brief look.
“Stay close.”
They moved through the hallway.
The study door was locked.
Adrian tried his key.
Nothing.
“What?”
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Then Amara noticed something.
“The symbol.”
“What symbol?”
She pointed to the small engraving on the lock.
The same crowned S from her necklace.
She removed the necklace and pressed the pendant against the lock.
A click sounded.
The door opened.
Adrian stared at her.
“How did you know?”
“I didn't.”
They entered.
The room looked untouched.
Dust covered the furniture.
A large portrait of Adrian's father hung above the fireplace.
Amara walked toward it.
“There.”
A small c***k was visible behind the frame.
Adrian removed the portrait.
A hidden compartment appeared.
Inside was a stack of documents.
Adrian picked up the first one.
His hands began to shake.
“What is it?”
He handed it to Amara.
It was a birth certificate.
Amara Sterling.
But there was something else.
A second document.
A marriage certificate.
Isabella Sterling and Daniel Cross.
Amara stared at it.
“My father was married to my mother.”
Adrian nodded.
“They were.”
“Then why did everyone hide it?”
Before Adrian could answer, footsteps sounded behind them.
They turned.
Victoria stood in the doorway.
Her face was pale.
“You found it.”
Adrian stared at his mother.
“You knew.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
“I knew about Isabella and Daniel.”
“You knew my father was alive?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Victoria stepped into the room.
“Because I received a message too.”
She showed them her phone.
A single message appeared:
Tonight, the truth comes home.
Suddenly, the lights came on.
The study door slammed shut.
A voice came through the hidden speakers.
“You've spent twenty-one years looking for answers.”
Adrian looked around.
“Who are you?”
The voice laughed softly.
“You really don't recognize me?”
Amara's blood ran cold.
The portrait above the fireplace suddenly moved.
A screen appeared behind it.
A live video began.
A man sat in a dark room.
Older.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakably familiar.
Adrian stared at the screen.
“Dad?”
The man smiled.
“Yes, son.”
Victoria stepped backward.
“No…”
Adrian's voice trembled.
“You're alive.”
“I've been alive for three years.”
“Why?”
His father leaned closer to the camera.
“Because I discovered who betrayed our family.”
The room fell silent.
Then he looked directly at Amara.
“And now that my granddaughter has returned…”
He smiled.
“…we can finally finish what Isabella started.”
The screen went black.
Amara looked at Adrian.
“Your father called me his granddaughter.”
Adrian didn't answer.
Because somewhere deep inside, he already knew.
The Sterling family's biggest secret wasn't who Amara was.
It was why her father had been trying to find her.
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