The message still sat on Aria’s screen.
Ask your husband what he promised to do if his mother ever came back.
There was silence in the room for some seconds.
The estate outside had gone eerily quiet after the gunshot.
Noah stood in the hallway, listening for movement.
Damien froze.
Aria stared at him.
“What did you promise?”
Damien’s expression was unreadable.
“Aria–” “No.
Her voice was soft, yet strong.
Not this time.
He looked at her.
“For years you’ve told me what I should know, what I shouldn’t know.
You knew what was best for me.
“You decided what I could have.
She moved closer.
And each time, I paid the price for a decision I didn’t have a choice in.
Damien’s jaw clenched.
“I was trying to help you.”
“Then tell me the truth.
He turned away.
Aria’s eyes turned hard.
“What did you promise your dad?”
Damien was silent.
“What did you promise if Elena ever returned?”
He was silent, before he could answer.
Aria felt a click.
“You promised you’d keep her away from me.”
Finally Damien looked at her.
“Yes.”
The word was barely a whisper.
Aria looked up at him.
“Why?”
“Because my father told me my mother was dangerous if she was alive.”
“And you believed him?
I didn’t know what to think.
“But you still made the promise.”
I was seventeen.
You were old enough to be asking questions.
I did do.
Why agree, then?
Damien’s eyes darkened.
‘Because he showed me something.
“What?”
“A file.”
Aria’s heart twisted.
“Elena?”
“Yeah.”
‘What was in it?’
Damien faltered.
“Evidence she’d been part of something that put the Laurent family in danger.”
Aria’s expression went slack.
You thought she betrayed your family?”
“I thought she might have.
“Your own mother?”
“I was young.
“You keep saying that.”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“No.” Aria shook her head.
“That’s an explanation.
“That’s no excuse.”
Damien winced.
Noah didn’t answer.
Aria looked back down at her phone.
“Your father said Elena was dangerous.
He made you promise to stay away if she ever came back.
And then years later I showed up in your life.
Damien nodded slowly.
“Yes.
And you were commanded to marry me.”
Yes.
Her eyes squinted.
“Is that part of the same plan?”
“I don’t know.
“You don’t know?
“Don’t ask me why you were picked.”
“But you knew I was under surveillance.”
“Yes.
“You knew my family was connected to yours.”
“Yes,” I said.
“You knew that your mother might still be alive.”
“Yes.”
“But you married me without telling me any of that.
Damien bowed his head.
“Yes.
Aria’s chest burned hotter with anger.
She had taken the divorce as the final betrayal.
She was mistaken.
The divorce had been the open sore only.
All beneath had been concealed for years.
“You were more than my husband,” she whispered.
Damien stared at her.
You were in on the secret.
“I never wanted to be.”
But you were.”
Yup.
Aria drew away from him.
Suddenly there came a loud knock from downstairs.
Noah headed straight for the stairs.
“Remain here.”
Damien held him back.
“Not a chance.
Noah pivoted.
“I’ll see.”
Damien shook his head.
‘We don’t know who is in there.
“I’ll take care.”
Aria interrupted.
“Hold on.”
The two men stared at her.
She made a gesture down the hall.
“There is no reason for someone outside to knock after firing a gun.
Noah’s expression shifted.
“Then what do you think it is?”
“Just a diversion.”
Damien looked at the staircase.
“From what?”
Aria turned back to the study.
“The faith.”
She rushed to the desk.
No documents were found.
But there was more to it than the black box.
The old picture was still there.
Aria snatched it up.
Something wasn’t right.
She turned it inside out.
The symbol was still there.
Then she saw a nice line down the back.
She poked it with a nail.
Nothing.
Damien drew nearer.
“What are you looking for?
“A compartment.
He scowled.
‘Why?’
‘Because my father put secret compartments in important papers.
Her finger traced the edge of the photograph.
There was a soft click.
Split back.
A folded paper came sliding out.
Noah looked.
“Somebody put that in there.”
Aria opened the door.
It was just one sentence.
THE INHERITANCE IS NOT THE TRUST.
And below it another line.
THE POSSESSION IS THE EVIDENCE OF INHERITANCE.
Damien narrowed his eyes.
“What’s that mean?
Aria shook her head.
”
“I dunno.
Then she read the last line.
Her hands stopped.
THE ORIGINAL OWNER WAS NEVER ONE OF THE VALMONTS.
Damien looked at the sheet.
“And that’s illogical.”
Aria stared at him.
“Maybe that’s what it’s about.
The lights went out.
Noah looked at the windows immediately.
“Somebody’s messing with the power again.
Aria folded the paper.
“Then we have to leave.”
Damien glanced at her.
“You said you’d look scared if you left.
That was before I found this.”
She showed her the letter.
“Now some idiot wants us to believe the Valmont estate was stolen.”
Damien’s face turned hard.
By whom?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out.”
They went through the house fast.
Noah was the first.
Damien sat down beside Aria.
They did not talk until they were in the front hall.
But the door remained bolted.
Noah looked.
“No one came through here.”
Aria stared at him.
“Then whoever came in didn’t come out the front door.”
Noah’s face grew stiff.
There are other ways out.”
“Scan them.”
He nodded.
Damien looked over at Aria.
“Do you think somebody was in the house when we were in the study?”
“I don’t believe that.”
She glanced about her.
“I know that.
“How.
Since the photo wasn’t present before.
Damien scowled.
“Say what you mean.”
“When I first found the photograph, it was sealed on the back.”
She glanced at the note.
“Someone opened it.
“Richard might have done.
“Richard’s gone.”
“Maybe he hid it somewhere before he went out.”
“No.” Aria shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?
“Because Richard wanted me to know the truth.
She glanced up at the study.
“If he’d found that he would have told me.
Damien said nothing.
Aria narrowed her eyes.
Unless he was prevented from doing so.
The eastern corridor suddenly went noisy.
Noah came back.
”Nothing.”
Aria looked at him.
“What about the east entrance?
Locked.
Then we are missing something.
Damien looked up at the ceiling.
“Perhaps not.”
Aria followed his eyes.
The house was ancient.
It had a number of unused passages in its architecture.
Her eyes opened wide.
“The cellar.”
Noah shook his head.
“The cellar has been closed for years.
“Was it.
He glanced at her.
Aria faced Damien.
“There was a service alley under this house?”
Damien nodded slowly.
Richard mentioned one.
“Where?”
“Out behind the library.”
They went at once.
The library door opened, creaking.
Aria stepped over to the shelves.
She looked at them closely.
Then she saw something.
One of the shelves was a little wonky.
She pushed it
Nothing.
Damien moved to stand beside her.
They carried it with them.
Behind the shelves was a small opening.
Noah looked.
“I didn’t know this was out there.”
Aria peered into the blackness.
Me neither.
Damien grabbed his phone flashlight.
The passage sank down under the house.
Slowly they descended.
They came to a little room at the bottom.
There was a chair.
Table 1.
And one lamp.
Someone had been here recently.
Aria walked to the table.
A cup was still hot.
Noah’s face shifted.
“They just left.”
Damien looked around the room.
He looked at the wall and saw something.
An image.
He moved in.
It was Elena.
But she was not alone.
Beside her stood Elena Valmont, Aria’s mother.
And behind them was Victor.
Aria glanced at the photo.
“That’s my mother.
Damien nodded his head.
“They knew one another.”
“They knew each other intimately.
Aria glanced at the date.
Her face altered.
“This was after Elena was supposedly dead.
Damien’s eyes flew open.
“That’s not possible.”
“It is,” I replied.
Aria reached to touch the photograph.
“Unless her date of death was false.”
There was a sound behind them.
The door to the passage slammed.
Noah sprinted toward it.
Locked.
Damien took hold of the handle.
Move.
He tried to force it open.
Nothing.
Aria glanced around.
Don’t waste your strength.
Damien turned around.
“We’re trapped.
“Nope.
She looked at the walls.
“There’s got to be another way out.”
Noah peered about.
“There is no other door.
Aria nodded toward the floor.
“What about under us?”
Damien looked at where she was looking.
There was a ring of metal in the floor.
He tugged it.
A trapdoor opened in secret.
Cold air rose up.
The narrow stairway went down into darkness.
Noah looked at Damien.
“This house has more secrets than its inhabitants.”
Aria’s mouth twitched.
“Apparently.”
They went down on
The staircase ended under the estate.
There was another room at the bottom.
This one was bigger.
And paper-stuffed.
Crates.
Pictures.
Finance.
Family papers.
Aria held her breath.
Her name was on hundreds of files.
ARIA VALMONT.
Damien was coming toward them.
“Nope.
Aria opened one.
Inside were her childhood records.
school papers.
Medical reports.
Travel documents.
Family snapshots.
Everything.
Someone had been watching her life.
For years.
Damien took another folder.
His face went.
“Huh?”
Aria took it from his hand.
The label said:
PROJECT ECLIPSE SUBJECT TWO.
Her heart was hammering.
“Subject two?
Damien opened the file.
His picture was on the front page.
Below it:
SUBJECT ONE – D A L A U R E N T.
Aria felt her blood turn cold.
She turned another page.
She saw herself looking at her own photograph.
SUBJECT TWO ARIA VALMONT.
That was a below sentence.
The marriage was designed to observe the two subjects under conditions of trust, power and emotional dependency.
Aria didn’t move.
Damien gently took the page from her.
His face turned white.
“They were watching us.
Aria glanced at him.
“Not only studying.”
She pointed to the following line.
THE MAIN OBJECTIVE WAS TO DISCOVER WHO WOULD GET CONTROL OF THE VALMONT TRUST.
Damien looked down.
And then he stopped.
“What?”
Aria stared.
His finger was on the last sentence.
THE TEST WILL CONCLUDE WHEN ONE SUBJECT BETRAYS THE OTHER.
“Shut up.
Aria’s mind whirred.
The wedding.
The division.
Vivienne’s coming home.
The photos that leaked.
The trust.
Suddenly all struggles were different.
Maybe some of their pain had not been an accident all along.
Someone had been watching every move maybe.
Waiting.
Test.
Controlling.
Damien closed the file slowly.
This was never about protecting you.
Aria stared at him.
“No,”
Her voice was icy.
“It was about watching what I would become.”
There was a phone ringing somewhere in the room.
They both came to a halt.
The sound was coming from behind a pile of files.
Noah found an old phone.
No caller ID was visible.
He gave that to Aria.
She answered.
For a few seconds there was nothing except breathing.
Then a woman’s voice sounded.
Soft.
Acquaintance.
All of Aria’s body hardened.
“Aria?
She had no words.
Damien glanced at her.
Again came the voice.
Do not trust this file.
Aria’s mouth fell open.
“Who are you?” asked the
Pause.
Then— “I’m the woman who told your mother I’d look after you.
Aria’s eyes opened wide.
Damien moved closer.
Last sentence from the voice whispered.
“Your husband is not the one to be afraid of.”
The call was over.
Aria slowly put the phone back down.
Damien gazed at her.
“Who was it?””
Aria stared into the blackness.
Her voice was shaking.
“I believe…”
She swallowed a mouthful.
“I think that was your mum,”
And somewhere above them the door of the secret room opened.