Chapter 6 - THE ROOM THAT NEVER EXISTEDMy mother had been dead for twenty-two years.
For twenty-two years, I had believed that she drowned when a storm overturned her boat off the coast of Rhode Island.
I remembered the funeral.
The white roses.
Alexander standing beside me, holding my hand so tightly that my fingers hurt.
I remembered my father staring at the closed coffin, looking as though half his life had disappeared.
What I didn't remember was anyone mentioning the Blackwoods.
Until now.
"Vanessa said Charles knows what happened to Mom."
Alexander sat opposite me in his private study.
He'd been silent for nearly a minute.
Finally, he stood and walked toward the window.
"Our mother died because of an accident."
"Are you certain?"
He turned.
"Caroline."
"Are you absolutely certain?"
His expression changed.
I could see the question forming in his mind.
What if we had never been told the truth?
He slowly returned to his desk.
"Mom was on a boat with three other people," he said. "Her business partner, a captain, and a financial adviser."
"What financial adviser?"
Alexander frowned.
"I don't remember his name."
"Find out."
He studied me.
"You think the Blackwoods had something to do with it?"
"I think Vanessa wouldn't have mentioned Mom unless she knew something."
He nodded.
"I'll have Marcus retrieve the old reports."
An hour later, Marcus entered with a thin folder.
Inside were newspaper clippings, insurance documents, and photographs from the original investigation.
My mother's name appeared on every page.
Margaret Sterling.
She had been a brilliant businesswoman long before Sterling Global existed.
My father built his first manufacturing company.
My mother managed its finances.
When my father wanted to expand, she negotiated the loans.
When investors tried to take advantage of him, she found the hidden clauses.
And when he died five years after her, he left Alexander and me a substantial inheritance.
But the most important thing my mother had ever given us wasn't money.
It was her belief that nobody should have the power to make another person feel worthless.
I stared at the passenger list from her final voyage.
Then I saw it.
A name near the bottom.
Edward Blackwood.
I looked up.
"Alex."
He came around the desk.
"What?"
I pointed.
"Edward Blackwood."
My brother's face changed.
"Julian's father."
I nodded.
The room went silent.
Julian's father had died fifteen years earlier from complications following a stroke.
I'd attended the annual memorial dinners.
I'd listened to Charles describe his son as a visionary businessman.
And not once had anyone told me Edward was on the boat where my mother died.
"Why didn't we know?" I whispered.
Alexander kept reading.
Then he stopped.
"Because Edward was listed as one of the survivors."
I stared at him.
"Survivors?"
"Four people were aboard. Three survived. Mom was the only fatality."
I felt cold.
Charles had spent years telling the public that Edward suffered from survivor's guilt following a terrible boating accident.
But he'd never identified the woman who died.
Alexander closed the folder.
"Marcus, find everything about that voyage."
Marcus nodded.
"There's another development."
He placed a tablet on the desk.
A security photograph appeared.
It showed Vanessa entering a private medical clinic in Manhattan.
She wore dark glasses and a long coat.
"She visited this clinic three days before the assault," Marcus said.
"Why does that matter?" Alexander asked.
"Because she requested genetic testing."
My heart began pounding.
"DNA?"
Marcus nodded.
"According to a source who contacted our legal team, she believed someone had falsified her birth records. We don't have her confidential medical results, and we won't obtain them without permission."
I looked at Alexander.
"Then she may already know who she is."
"Or she may be trying to find out."
My phone buzzed.
An unknown number.
I hesitated before answering.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice whispered, "Don't hang up."
Vanessa.
I looked at Alexander.
He immediately moved closer.
"Where are you?" I asked.
"Somewhere Charles can't find me."
"Why are you calling?"
"Because I lied in court."
I said nothing.
Vanessa began crying.
"I lied about you locking Penny downstairs. I lied about the drinking. I lied about everything."
My chest tightened.
"Why?"
"Because Charles promised he'd tell me what happened to my mother."
I closed my eyes.
"And Julian?"
"He said he'd help me. He said you were dangerous."
I thought of Penny's terrified face.
"And you believed him?"
"I wanted to."
Her voice cracked.
"For twenty-nine years, I thought my mother abandoned me. Charles told me she disappeared because she didn't want me."
I gripped the phone.
"Your mother died."
"I know that now."
A long silence followed.
Then Vanessa whispered, "Caroline, the letter is real. And there's something else in that room."
"What?"
"A recording."
"Of what?"
"The night your mother died."
My stomach dropped.
"How could a recording be inside the mansion?"
"Edward Blackwood brought it home. Charles locked it away after Edward became ill."
I looked at Alexander.
"Where are you, Vanessa?"
"At the old Blackwood estate in Newport."
"Why?"
"Because I went back for the recording."
My brother took the phone.
"Vanessa, this is Alexander Sterling. Leave the building and call the police."
Her breathing quickened.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Charles found out I was here."
A heavy sound echoed through the phone.
A door slamming.
Then footsteps.
Vanessa gasped.
"Oh God."
"Vanessa?" I cried.
"He's coming."
The line went dead.
Alexander immediately called Marcus.
"Get law enforcement to the Newport estate. Now."
Within minutes, Marcus coordinated the information with authorities.
Eleanor contacted investigators handling the Blackwood financial case.
I wanted to go to Newport.
Alexander refused to encourage it.
"You're still recovering. Penny needs you."
I knew he was right.
But helplessness burned through me.
For years, I had allowed the Blackwoods to control my life.
Now another woman, one who had helped destroy it, might be in danger because she had finally decided to tell the truth.
Two hours later, Marcus called.
"Police have located Vanessa."
"Is she alive?" I asked.
"Yes."
I nearly collapsed.
"Where was she?"
"Locked inside a storage room beneath the east wing."
I stared at the phone.
Another locked room.
Another Blackwood punishment.
Marcus continued.
"Investigators found several historical documents, financial ledgers, and an old cassette recorder in a concealed cabinet. They have secured the materials as potential evidence."
Alexander's expression hardened.
"And Charles?"
"Not at the property when officers arrived."
I covered my mouth.
"Where is he?"
"We're trying to establish that."
That evening, Eleanor arrived with startling news.
Vanessa had agreed to give investigators a formal statement correcting her false testimony.
She also requested an opportunity to apologize to me.
I wasn't ready.
I didn't know whether I ever would be.
But I was grateful she'd told the truth.
Before Eleanor left, she placed a photograph on the table.
It showed the entrance to the concealed room.
On the inside of the wooden door, someone had scratched a message.
The letters were uneven.
Desperate.
IF THEY FIND THE BOOK, WE ALL DIE.
Beneath the words was a date.
October 14.
The exact date my mother drowned.
Alexander stared at the photograph.
Then he looked at Eleanor.
"Find out who carved that."
Eleanor nodded.
But before she could answer, Marcus entered carrying another document.
"Alexander, we received a preliminary description of the cassette."
My brother stood.
"And?"
Marcus hesitated.
"The recording includes your mother's voice."
I felt my entire body go numb.
"Is she talking to Edward?"
"No."
Marcus swallowed.
"She's talking to Charles Blackwood."
May you like
He looked directly at me.
"And she's accusing him of stealing nearly two billion dollars."
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