Chapter 10 - The Grandfather in the Walls
Henry didn't appear.
He spoke.
Calmly.
Almost affectionately.
“Eleanor, you've aged beautifully.”
She stared at the speaker.
“You killed Vivian.”
Silence.
Then:
“Vivian made unfortunate choices.”
Adrian moved beneath the camera.
“You murdered my mother?”
“Adrian.”
His voice changed.
Warm.
Grandfatherly.
That somehow made it worse.
“I preserved everything she wanted to destroy.”
Adrian's fists tightened.
Charles whispered:
“Don't provoke him.”
“Why?”
“Because this building is automated.”
Fire suppression.
Locks.
Ventilation.
Henry had spent years quietly controlling Heritage Hall through shell companies.
The gala wasn't simply a fundraiser.
It was held on property he controlled.
We were inside his trap.
The steel door slammed shut.
Celeste grabbed my arm.
Ventilation stopped.
Adrian called security.
No signal.
Henry continued.
“Rosalind was always dramatic.”
I stepped toward the speaker.
“My mother's name was Rose.”
“I gave her Rosalind.”
“She chose Rose.”
Silence.
I understood then.
People like Henry hated names they couldn't control.
“Why did you let her live?”
“I loved my daughter.”
Rebecca laughed bitterly.
“You burned a conservatory trying to kill her.”
“That wasn't intended for Rose.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Then who?”
“Rebecca.”
She went still.
Henry had considered Rebecca unstable and dangerous.
She knew too much.
The fire was meant to kill her.
Rose unexpectedly returned to the building to save her sister.
Both escaped.
Henry believed Rebecca died later.
He never found Rose.
Samuel hid them separately.
That explained why the twins lost contact for years.
Then Henry turned to Lucia.
Not physically.
Through words.
“The little dancer.”
My blood froze.
“You stay away from my daughter.”
“Your daughter finished what Rose started.”
He had watched the gala.
He knew Lucia.
He wanted the choreography because he no longer possessed Lucille's original location keys.
“What do you want?”
“The second ledger.”
“We don't have it.”
“Adrian does.”
Adrian looked confused.
Then Henry said:
“Vivian left it to her son.”
Adrian's mother had hidden the ledger somewhere in his inheritance.
Charles stared.
“What did she leave you personally?”
“Nothing unusual.”
“Think.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
A watch.
Letters.
A violin.
A violin.
His mother didn't play.
Yet she insisted it remain with him.
The instrument was stored in his private apartment.
Henry knew.
That was why he had permitted Adrian to remain powerful.
He expected the ledger would eventually surface.
“Bring me the violin.”
“And you let us leave?”
Henry laughed.
“No.”
At least he was honest.
Then Lucia's voice suddenly came through my phone.
I almost screamed.
Somehow one bar of service appeared.
“Mama?”
“Lucia!”
Samuel had returned to Heritage Hall after our signal disappeared.
He and Lucia were upstairs.
Too close.
“Leave the building!”
Then Lucia said:
“Mama, the music is playing.”
“What music?”
“Our song.”
We heard it faintly through the ceiling.
The orchestra pit had activated automatically.
Lucia continued:
“Grandma Rose said when the slow part plays backward, there's another door.”
Rebecca stared at me.
“What?”
I remembered.
Rose sometimes played Home backward as a game.
I had forgotten.
Lucia hadn't.
“Samuel, take her to the conductor's podium.”
Henry shouted through the speaker:
“No!”
First real panic.
Lucia reached the podium.
The reversed melody began.
I mirrored the choreography.
Backward.
Third star.
Second.
First.
Turn right instead of left.
My hand landed against the steel wall.
A hidden release clicked.
The door opened.
Adrian smiled coldly at the camera.
“Grandmother built this room before you owned it.”
Henry stopped speaking.
We escaped.
But when we reached the ballroom, Samuel was unconscious beside the orchestra pit.
Lucia was gone.
On the marble floor lay her stuffed rabbit.
Celeste screamed.
My phone rang.
Henry.
I answered.
May you like
His voice was calm again.
“Now we negotiate.”
