Chapter 6 – Chapter 6 – Robert’s Anger, Victoria’s Lies, and the Evidence Hidden in the Study

The morning after the birthday party, the mansion looked wounded. A crew had removed the broken glass from the ballroom, but the cabinet stood in pieces near the service entrance. The side table had been taken away for repair. The birthday cake had finally been discarded. No one had bothered to remove the pink ribbon that still hung from the staircase.

Robert arrived at the mansion before the staff. He had barely slept. Lily’s letter lay on the passenger seat of his car, and he had read it so many times that the fold had begun to split.

Victoria was waiting in the breakfast room. She wore a pale silk blouse and had tied her blonde hair back. Without the red gown and diamonds, she looked less like the queen of the house and more like someone who had spent the night afraid.

“You need to speak to Collins,” she said.

“I already did.”

“Then you know he is trying to take the mansion.”

“He is carrying out my father’s will.”

“Your father was old and sick.”

“He signed it with witnesses. He had it reviewed.”

Victoria poured coffee she did not drink. “You cannot let Margaret take control. She will turn the house into a shrine to Lily.”

Robert placed the letter on the table. “You intercepted this.”

Victoria glanced down. “I told you. I was protecting you.”

“Stop calling it protection.”

“Charles said the letter could trigger a legal challenge. He said Lily had no claim.”

“Was that true?”

Victoria did not answer.

Robert walked to the window. “I remember my father asking about Lily once. He asked whether I would have wanted a sister. I laughed. I told him I had no interest in a person who had never been part of our lives.”

Victoria’s voice softened. “You were a child.”

“I was twenty-eight.”

He turned back. “I made that decision because you and Charles made sure I never heard her side.”

Victoria stood. “You are acting as if I planned everything.”

“Did you?”

She looked away.

Collins arrived with Dana Brooks, an independent investigator. They requested access to Daniel’s private study, where the original papers had been stored. Victoria refused to provide the key. Margaret, who had come to collect Emma’s belongings, remembered Daniel’s habit of hiding spare keys behind the brass ornament on the grandfather clock.

The compartment opened with a click. Inside lay a small key and a folded note.

The study smelled of cedar, leather, and old paper. Books filled the shelves. A large desk stood before the windows, and a framed photograph of Daniel sat beside a brass letter opener. Dana photographed the room before touching anything.

They found a wooden box beneath a loose floorboard near the fireplace. Inside were several letters, a second photograph of Lily as a young woman, and a small audio recorder.

Collins examined the label. “Daniel’s handwriting. He must have made a statement.”

Robert stepped closer. “Play it.”

Dana checked the device and made a digital copy before pressing the button. Daniel’s voice filled the room, weak but recognizable.

He described Lily’s birth, the pressure from Charles, and the falsification of records. He admitted that he had let the lie continue because he feared losing control of the company. Then the recording crackled.

“I did not do this alone,” Daniel said.

A section of audio disappeared. Dana inspected the recorder and found a second memory card taped inside the battery compartment.

Before she could remove it, the study door slammed shut.

The lock clicked.

Robert rushed to the handle. “Who did that?”

No one answered.

Dana called security, but the signal was weak. Collins checked the windows. They were locked from the outside. Margaret stood close to Emma, who had begun to tremble.

Then a voice came through the door.

“Destroy the recording, and you can all leave.”

Robert recognized it.

It was the voice of the head of household security.