Chapter 4: Lies Behind the Perfect Marriage
Chapter 4: Lies Behind the Perfect Marriage
The guesthouse sat on the edge of a quiet lake nearly forty miles from Blackwood Manor.
It belonged to Ethan's older sister, Rachel Cross, a retired pediatric nurse who rarely asked questions when someone needed help.
When Ethan pulled into the driveway, Rachel was already waiting on the porch.
She noticed Emily's bruises immediately.
"Oh, sweetheart..."
Rachel gently embraced her.
"You don't have to explain anything tonight."
Emily nearly burst into tears.
After everything that had happened, those simple words felt like the first kindness she'd received in days.
The small guesthouse was warm and peaceful.
There were no reporters outside.
No police officers.
No marble floors or crystal chandeliers.
Just the sound of crickets outside and the soft glow of a fireplace.
Rachel prepared a light dinner while Emily sat quietly at the kitchen table.
"You should eat," Rachel said.
"The baby needs you to stay strong."
Emily nodded and forced herself to take a few bites.
Ethan remained unusually quiet.
He couldn't stop thinking about Charles's journal... or the hidden vault beneath Blackwood Tower.
Once dinner was over, he finally spoke.
"I think we're looking at something much bigger than a family dispute."
Emily looked up.
"What do you mean?"
He placed several photocopied pages from the journal on the table.
"Charles wasn't just documenting financial crimes."
"He was leaving directions."
Emily frowned.
"Directions?"
"To whatever's inside that vault."
Rachel looked between them.
"What vault?"
Ethan explained everything he had learned from Detective Keller.
When he finished, silence filled the room.
Emily slowly rested her hand on her stomach.
"So my father-in-law knew he was going to die."
"I think so."
"And he hid something before it happened."
Ethan nodded.
"I think he wanted the right person to find it."
Across town, Daniel sat alone in the master bedroom he once shared with Emily.
Her closet door stood open.
Half her clothes were gone.
Her favorite books were missing.
Even the framed ultrasound photo from the nightstand had disappeared.
The room no longer felt like a home.
A soft knock interrupted his thoughts.
"Come in."
Margaret entered carrying a cup of coffee.
"You haven't slept."
Daniel rubbed his face.
"Neither have you."
She handed him the mug.
"I know this is difficult."
He stared into the coffee without drinking it.
"Mother..."
"If Emily really believes you pushed her..."
Margaret answered before he finished.
"Then someone has convinced her of something terrible."
Daniel looked up.
"You honestly expect me to believe she invented this?"
Margaret sighed.
"Pregnancy can be emotionally overwhelming."
Daniel stood.
"Stop saying that."
She blinked.
"She's scared."
"I know."
"And instead of asking why..."
He looked directly at his mother.
"...everyone keeps saying she's confused."
Margaret remained calm.
"What are you suggesting?"
Daniel hesitated.
"I don't know anymore."
For the first time in years, doubt had entered his mind.
Margaret recognized it immediately.
And it terrified her.
The next morning, Detective Keller requested surveillance footage from Blackwood Manor.
The mansion contained over sixty security cameras.
Someone had disabled every camera covering the second-floor balcony.
Exactly fifteen minutes before Emily fell.
Keller stared at the report.
"That's not a coincidence."
The head of security shifted nervously.
"There was... a system malfunction."
Keller looked unconvinced.
"Only one section of the mansion failed?"
"Apparently."
"And who has access to the security system?"
The guard swallowed.
"Mrs. Blackwood."
Meanwhile, Ethan drove to meet Charles Blackwood's former business partner.
Richard Hawthorne.
The same man who had left the gala moments before the attack.
Hawthorne's office overlooked the city's financial district.
The seventy-year-old businessman greeted Ethan with a practiced smile.
"Mr. Cross."
"Thank you for seeing me."
Richard gestured toward a chair.
"I assume this isn't a social visit."
"It isn't."
Ethan placed Charles's business card on the desk.
"You invited me to the gala."
"I did."
"But you left early."
Richard's smile faded slightly.
"I wasn't feeling well."
Ethan watched him carefully.
"You knew Charles better than anyone."
"For forty years."
"Did he ever mention a vault?"
Richard's eyes froze for less than a second.
It was enough.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
Ethan leaned forward.
"Then why did you react before I even finished the question?"
Richard slowly folded his hands.
"Mr. Cross..."
"I've spent my life negotiating with prosecutors."
"You won't trick me into saying something I shouldn't."
Ethan stood.
"I wasn't trying to."
As he reached the door, Richard spoke without turning around.
"Charles trusted the wrong people."
Ethan stopped.
"So did Emily."
Before Ethan could ask another question, Richard added quietly,
"If you want to keep her alive..."
"...stay away from Blackwood Tower."
That afternoon, Emily finally found the courage to read the rest of Charles's journal herself.
She noticed something Ethan had missed.
Every few pages, Charles had written a single letter in the corner.
R.
E.
S.
T.
Then again.
A.
T.
L.
A.
K.
E.
Emily grabbed a notebook and copied every marked letter.
After several minutes, the scattered letters formed a complete sentence.
REST AT LAKE ASH.
She frowned.
"Lake Ash?"
Rachel looked up from the living room.
"There's an old cemetery by Lake Ash."
Emily's heart skipped a beat.
Charles had been buried there.
Late that evening, Daniel received an unexpected visitor.
Detective Keller.
"I'd like to ask about your father's funeral."
Daniel looked confused.
"My father's funeral?"
"Yes."
"Was the casket ever opened after the private viewing?"
"No."
"My mother insisted it remain closed."
Keller nodded thoughtfully.
"And the burial?"
Daniel frowned.
"What does that have to do with Emily?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"But your father's journal suggests he expected to die."
Daniel's face drained of color.
"What journal?"
Keller immediately realized his mistake.
"You... didn't know?"
Daniel slowly shook his head.
"My father kept a journal?"
Keller remained silent.
Daniel's pulse quickened.
"What was in it?"
"I can't discuss an ongoing investigation."
As Keller left, Daniel stood frozen in the doorway.
His father had left behind a journal.
His wife had somehow found it.
And his mother had never mentioned its existence.
For the first time in his life...
Daniel wondered whether the people he loved most had been hiding the truth from him for years.
That same night, Margaret stood alone in Charles's abandoned study.
She opened his old desk one final time.
Hidden beneath a false drawer was a single envelope she had somehow overlooked.
Inside was one handwritten sentence.
If you're reading this, Margaret... you're already too late.
Her hands trembled.
Then she noticed something written on the back.
Emily knows where to look next.
Margaret's eyes widened in horror.
Without wasting another second, she grabbed her phone.
"Get the car ready," she ordered.
"We're leaving immediately."
"Where to, ma'am?"
Margaret's voice turned ice cold.
"Lake Ash Cemetery."
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Because if Charles had hidden the final piece of evidence with his own grave...
She would have to reach it before Emily did.
