Chapter 8 - CLAIRE’S HIDDEN STUDIO
Vale forced Emily toward the rear wall.
“Open the service tunnel.”
“I do not know where it is.”
“Eleanor trusted you.”
“She told you everything.”
Emily looked at Richard.
His mother had shown Emily the studio shortly before her death.
She revealed a concealed passage used during the mansion’s original construction.
Eleanor feared someone was manipulating Richard’s household.
She never named the person.
She asked Emily to protect the children if danger entered the family.
Emily pressed a carved rose beneath the window.
A section of the wall opened.
Cold air entered the studio.
Vale pushed Detective Ellis into the passage first.
Richard carried Noah.
Victoria followed.
Marcus remained behind because Vale ordered him to disable the mansion alarms.
The tunnel descended beneath the garden.
Claire had used it as a private route between the studio and nursery.
Small paintings covered one wall.
Three blue birds.
Three silver stars.
Three boys holding hands.
Noah touched one of them.
“Mommy painted that.”
Richard stopped.
He had never seen the passage.
Claire had kept part of her life hidden from him.
Emily found a brass box beneath the final painting.
Eleanor had told her never to open it unless the children were threatened.
Vale noticed.
“Bring it.”
Emily lifted the box.
They reached an underground room beneath the nursery.
Vale locked the tunnel behind them.
A desk stood inside.
Old cameras and recording equipment covered the shelves.
Claire had built a private security archive.
Richard turned on one monitor.
A video appeared.
Claire sat in the same room.
She looked pale.
Her voice was weak but clear.
“Richard, if you are watching this, Graham Vale has moved against the boys.”
Richard stared at the screen.
Claire continued.
“Graham has been altering Hawthorne trusts for years.”
“He uses Adrian Cole to create medical claims.”
“He attempted to convince me that Liam needed permanent institutional care.”
“I refused.”
“I discovered payments from Ravenscroft Academy to Vale’s private foundation.”
“I planned to tell you.”
“Then I became ill.”
Richard looked toward Vale.
“What did you do to her?”
Vale remained silent.
Victoria looked from the screen to him.
“You said Claire died from an autoimmune disease.”
“She did.”
Claire’s recorded voice continued.
“My blood tests changed every time Dr. Cole handled them.”
“Emily will understand what that means.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Cole had used the same method on Claire.
He created illness through medication.
Then he controlled the test results.
Richard moved toward Vale.
Detective Ellis stopped him.
Vale still had the gun.
Claire lifted a document toward the camera.
“The original Hawthorne trust is hidden in the nursery archive.”
“Graham’s copy is false.”
“The boys do not lose control of their inheritance if they become ill.”
“Their shares transfer to an independent guardian.”
“Emily Carter.”
Everyone looked at Emily.
Vale’s face filled with rage.
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That was why he needed her gone.
The maid he called a thief was the one person standing between him and the entire Hawthorne fortune.
