Chapter 8
The old Carter vault was behind the library fireplace.
Only three people knew that.
Me.
My mother.
And my late father.
Apparently Victoria had discovered enough to know it existed but not enough to open it.
That explained Grace.
My mother.
The surveillance.
The questions.
The pressure.
I brought Victoria and Caleb to the library under guard.
Annie stayed upstairs with Grace.
Before leaving the kitchen, she grabbed my sleeve.
“Mr. Carter?”
I looked down.
“You’re not eating the butter, right?”
Something in my chest tightened.
“No.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
She nodded.
That was all she needed.
In the library, Victoria stared at the fireplace.
I noticed.
“You’ve been here before.”
“Of course.”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“You’ve been here looking.”
She said nothing.
I opened the hidden panel.
The vault remained sealed.
Victoria’s eyes changed.
Greed.
Recognition.
Whatever story she told about love, loyalty, and marriage, that look told me something simpler.
She wanted what was inside.
I opened it.
My father’s signet case sat on the first shelf.
Family books.
Old photographs.
Letters.
A sealed wooden box marked HALE.
Victoria inhaled sharply.
There.
I took it down.
“You knew.”
She stared.
Caleb whispered, “Victoria…”
She ignored him.
I opened the box.
Inside was a single letter from my father to Frank Hale.
I read silently first.
Then again.
There was no promise of rank.
No share of the Carter organization.
No transfer of power through marriage.
My father had written the opposite.
Frank,
Your niece may someday marry Dominic if they choose each other. Do not mistake family affection for organizational inheritance. Carter blood and Carter command are not wedding gifts.
I looked at Victoria.
Her face had gone white.
“You knew this letter existed.”
She said nothing.
“You just didn’t know what it said.”
Caleb slowly turned toward her.
“You told me it promised us seats.”
Victoria’s jaw tightened.
Caleb stared.
May you like
“You lied to me too.”
For the first time, the two Hales were no longer standing on the same side.
