Chapter 5 - The Two Keys
The keys were nearly identical.
One had been with Mason for fifteen years before disappearing.
One had been with my mother.
Why two?
I retrieved mine from Lauren’s apartment.
Stamped into the metal:
M-17.
Mason’s missing key:
R-17.
M and R.
Mercer and Reed?
Maybe.
Then my attorney, Sarah Nguyen, searched property archives.
My childhood home still existed.
Richard sold it ten years earlier to a holding company.
Current owner:
Blue Harbor Residential LLC.
Sarah traced the company.
Owner:
Victor Reed.
Mason’s father.
I stared.
Victor had supposedly moved to Arizona.
Why own our old house?
Mason claimed ignorance.
For once, records supported him.
Victor bought it through layers of entities Mason had never accessed.
The house had remained empty for five years.
We obtained legal permission through Victor’s attorney after threatening litigation over archived family property.
Victor unexpectedly agreed.
Why?
Message:
LET EMMA SEE THE BLUE ROOM.
That frightened me more than refusal.
I went with Sarah.
Not Mason.
The house looked smaller than memory.
Same oak staircase.
Different paint.
The blue room remained behind the library.
Two locks.
M-17.
R-17.
Both required.
Meaning Caleb intentionally split access between our families.
But Mason’s key was missing.
Then I remembered the torn photograph.
Mason had reached for it so fast because something fell from his wallet.
Could the missing key have fallen earlier?
Police searched the dining room as part of documenting the incident.
Nothing.
Security footage from my house showed Mason’s wallet opening when the table overturned.
Photograph fell.
No key.
Someone stole it before the wedding.
Who had access to Mason’s office?
Me.
House cleaner.
His mother, Patricia Reed.
Victor.
And Mason’s younger sister, Claire.
I had met Claire twice.
Quiet.
Thirty.
Worked as an archivist.
Sarah called her.
Claire immediately said:
“I have it.”
No games.
No chase.
“Why?”
“Dad asked me to take it.”
Victor.
Why not simply ask Mason?
“He doesn’t trust him.”
Mason discovered this and exploded.
I watched from across Sarah’s conference room.
“Why wouldn’t my father trust me?”
Claire answered:
“Because you married Emma without telling her who you were.”
That shut him up.
Victor had watched his son become increasingly obsessed with the Mercer family.
He feared Mason no longer wanted truth.
He wanted revenge.
So he took the key away.
Claire agreed to bring it.
But only if Victor attended.
He did.
Sixty-three.
Dark-haired like Mason, now mostly gray.
He looked at me for a long time.
“I owe your brother an apology.”
“Is Caleb alive?”
Victor’s eyes lowered.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you start the fire?”
“No.”
“Did someone from your side enter that guesthouse?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
May you like
Victor looked at Mason.
“His mother.”
