CHAPTER 2 — "SHE WASN'T JUST THE MAID... SOMEONE IN THE MANSION WANTED HER DEAD."
The silence inside the kitchen lasted only seconds.
Then Harrison Whitmore stood up.
"No one leaves this room," he ordered.
His voice echoed through the mansion with the authority that had built one of the largest business empires in the country.
Within minutes, security guards surrounded the kitchen.
The family doctor was called.
The household staff gathered in the hallway, whispering nervously.
No one understood why the billionaire looked as if he had seen a ghost.
Nora wanted to run.
Every instinct told her to leave before it was too late.
Her mother's warning echoed inside her mind.
"If they recognize the locket... don't wait for explanations."
But Harrison stepped in front of the door.
"I'm not letting you disappear again."
His voice was softer now.
"Eighteen years ago I failed your mother."
"I won't fail you."
Nora stared at him.
"You don't even know me."
"I know your eyes."
He smiled sadly.
"They're Elena's."
Those words shattered something inside Nora.
For years she had dreamed of hearing someone speak her mother's name with love instead of pity.
Before either of them could say another word...
The kitchen doors burst open.
A tall woman dressed in an elegant emerald gown entered with two lawyers behind her.
Victoria Whitmore.
Harrison's younger sister.
Vice Chairwoman of Whitmore Global.
The woman stopped the moment she saw Nora.
Her eyes immediately landed on the silver locket.
For only a fraction of a second...
Fear flashed across her face.
Then it disappeared.
"Who is she?" Victoria asked calmly.
Harrison answered without hesitation.
"My granddaughter."
The room exploded into shocked whispers.
Victoria laughed.
"Impossible."
"Elena died years ago."
"You told everyone that," Harrison replied.
"But you never proved it."
Victoria's smile slowly faded.
Nora noticed something strange.
The woman wasn't surprised.
She looked...
Terrified.
As if she had expected this day for years.
That night Harrison ordered Nora to stay in one of the guest rooms under twenty-four-hour security.
"No one enters without my permission."
He trusted no one anymore.
Not even his own family.
Unable to sleep, Nora opened the old locket.
For the first time in her life...
She pressed harder than usual against its cracked hinge.
Click.
The back of the pendant opened.
Her hands froze.
Hidden inside was a tiny folded piece of paper.
Old.
Yellowed.
Barely readable.
In her mother's handwriting.
"If you're reading this...
they finally found you.
Trust your grandfather.
Never trust Victoria.
The truth is buried beneath the rose garden.
Love,
Mom."
Nora's heart pounded violently.
Someone knocked on her bedroom door.
Three slow knocks.
Then silence.
"Nora..."
a woman's voice whispered from outside.
"If you want to live until morning...
don't let them know you found the letter."
The hallway fell silent again.
When Nora carefully opened the door...
May you like
No one was there.
Only a single white rose lying on the floor.
