The Heart of the House
Chapter 03 - The Heart of the House
The next afternoon, Claire returned to Blackwood Manor wearing a catering uniform and carrying champagne. The ballroom was filling with guests. Onstage, Vivienne planned to announce that she had become permanent chair of Blackwood Industries and would donate part of Owen’s “memorial fund” to children’s charities.
Claire’s only ally was Lucas Ward, a young security guard who had seen Grant carry Owen through a service tunnel months earlier. Lucas had remained silent because Grant threatened his family, but when he learned Vivienne planned to move Owen overseas after the gala, fear finally became courage.
Together, they followed an abandoned passage behind the library. At its end stood an antique grandfather clock carved with the same blackwood tree as Owen’s key. Claire inserted the key beneath the clock face. A hidden panel opened, revealing a narrow room filled with ledgers, legal files, and an old digital recorder.
This was the heart of the house.
Inside a sealed envelope, Claire found the original trust agreement. Owen’s father had anticipated a fight for control. If Owen disappeared under suspicious circumstances, authority would pass not to Vivienne, but to an independent trustee. The document Vivienne had filed with the court was a forgery.
The recorder held something even more explosive: Owen’s father speaking two weeks before his death. He named Vivienne and Grant, describing secret loans, stolen company funds, and threats against him. A second file captured Vivienne arguing with Dr. Reed about the drugs used to keep Owen quiet.
Lucas copied everything to a secure account and sent it to a reporter at the gala. But before the upload finished, Grant appeared in the doorway.
He struck Lucas, grabbed Claire, and smashed the recorder. “You should have taken the warning,” he snarled.
Claire kicked the champagne cart into his knees and ran. Alarms erupted across the manor while Vivienne began her speech below.
Claire raced to the service cabinet, only to find it empty.
A folded blanket lay on the floor. Beside it was Owen’s medical bracelet and a note in Vivienne’s handwriting:
THE BOY IS ALREADY GONE.
Applause rose from the ballroom. Vivienne was about to sign the transfer papers live, surrounded by witnesses. Claire had minutes to stop her, but Owen had vanished inside a mansion built to hide secrets.
Then an old servants’ bell rang above the cabinet.
Three short rings. A pause. Three more.
May you like
Claire remembered what Owen had whispered: the house would remember.
He was still inside, and he was telling her where to look.
