Chapter 3 - The Secret Blueprint
The heavy silver revolver vanished back into the vanity drawer in a flash.
Victoria smoothed her silk dress and adjusted her expression to one of sweet innocence.
She commanded Elara to hide the lockbox and get back to cleaning immediately.
Elara shoved the photograph and certificate under her apron just as the door swung open.
Richard Harrington stepped into the room with an aura of absolute dominance.
His sharp eyes scanned the room and lingered on the trembling maid.
He asked Victoria why her new servant looked so terrified.
Victoria lied flawlessly and said Elara had simply broken a cheap vase.
Richard dismissed the excuse and stepped closer to Elara.
He studied her face with a strange intensity that made her stomach churn.
He muttered that there was something unsettlingly familiar about her eyes.
Elara kept her head down and stared at the expensive polished floorboards.
She prayed that the master of the house would not notice her shaking hands.
Richard eventually turned away and told Victoria to prepare for the annual gala tonight.
He stated that the gala would secure their financial dominance for the next decade.
As soon as he left the room Victoria ordered Elara to get out.
Elara rushed down the winding servant staircases to the safety of the basement.
She pulled the charred death certificate from her apron and studied it under a dim bulb.
There was a series of numbers written on the back of the paper.
It looked exactly like the combination code to the master safe in Richard's private study.
Elara knew that the study was strictly off-limits to all staff members.
Getting caught in there meant immediate termination or worse.
But she needed to know the full truth about her stolen identity.
She waited until midnight when the estate was completely silent.
Elara crept through the dark corridors and slipped into the luxurious study.
She found the hidden wall safe behind an oil painting of the estate.
She entered the numbers from the paper with trembling fingers.
The heavy steel door clicked open with a quiet hiss.
Inside the safe she found a thick file labeled with her actual birth name.
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She opened the file and gasped in sheer horror.
The documents proved that the fire twenty years ago was not an accident at all.
