Chapter 2 - THE CRACK IN THE VAULTThe next morning, the mansion was quiet, save for the rhythmic swish of Emma’s mop against the marble floor of the East Wing. Julian was locked in his study, a stack of quarterly reports scattered across his desk. Yet, his eyes kept wandering to the bottom drawer.
He needed air.
Stepping out of the study, he walked down the long, sunlit corridor toward the private library. As he passed the service staircase, a soft clatter caught his attention.
Nora was sitting on the bottom step, trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. Her stuffed rabbit with the missing ear sat beside her, keeping watch.
Julian stopped. He didn’t want to look, but he couldn't look away.
“It doesn’t go there,” Julian said, his voice deep and raspy from disuse.
Nora jumped slightly, looking up with wide, hazel eyes. She didn’t run. Instead, she tilted her head, studying his face with a terrifying emotional intelligence that belonged to someone three times her age.
“The round one goes in the round hole,” Nora stated matter-of-factly. “You look like you need a round hole, Mr. Julian.”
Julian’s breath caught. Before he could formulate a response, a sharp sound echoed from the main foyer.
Clang.
Emma dropped a silver bucket, her face draining completely of color as she stared down the hallway at Julian and her daughter. But it wasn't the sight of Julian interacting with Nora that made Emma freeze. It was the heavy oak door of Julian’s private study, left slightly ajar.
A gust of wind from an open window had caught the heavy door, swinging it wide open.
And on the wall inside, directly behind Julian’s desk, hung a massive, high-resolution wedding portrait of Julian and Olivia Mercer.
Emma’s knees buckled. She dropped the cleaning supplies, her hands flying to her mouth to stifle a scream. Her eyes went wide with pure, unadulterated terror as she stared at the face of the dead woman in the portrait.
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Because Emma Reed knew that face. She knew it better than her own.
And she knew that the woman buried in the frozen Connecticut earth under the name "Olivia Mercer" was not who the world thought she was.
