CHAPTER 8 "The Funeral That Was Never Meant to Be Opened"
Two days later...
Charles Bennett called Victoria before sunrise.
"I remembered something."
"What?"
"The missing box."
"You know where it went?"
"I know where it was supposed to go."
Three hours later, Victoria stood inside one of Charlotte's oldest churches.
The building was empty except for Charles.
He led her beneath the sanctuary.
Down narrow stone stairs.
Into a forgotten archive room.
Dust covered everything.
Except one recently disturbed section of the floor.
Charles pointed.
"Richard Prescott built this himself."
They pulled away an old wooden cabinet.
Behind it...
A hidden door.
Victoria shined her flashlight inside.
Shelves lined the walls.
Hundreds of documents.
Old photographs.
Private journals.
Then she noticed a black leather case.
Inside was Richard Prescott's handwritten diary.
The final entries were dated only weeks before his death.
Victoria began reading aloud.
"If anything happens to me, it was not an accident."
Charles looked up sharply.
The next page made both of them stop breathing.
"Margaret has destroyed everyone who threatened the family image."
Another page.
"Emily is not the first young woman she has trapped inside that guest house."
Victoria slowly lowered the diary.
"What?"
Charles looked pale.
"I... I never knew."
Behind the diary lay newspaper clippings dating back eighteen years.
Three young women.
Three former Prescott daughters-in-law.
Each marriage had ended suddenly.
One disappeared overseas.
One died in what police ruled an accidental overdose.
One simply vanished from public life.
Each case had been quietly settled.
Each investigation mysteriously closed.
Victoria felt cold.
Emily hadn't been Margaret's first victim.
She had simply been the first survivor willing to speak.
At the same time...
Margaret received devastating news.
The banks had frozen every major Prescott account pending investigation.
Corporate partners began resigning.
Board members demanded emergency meetings.
Shareholders filed lawsuits.
Within hours...
The Prescott empire had lost nearly two billion dollars in market value.
Brandon exploded.
"This is your fault!"
Margaret slapped him across the face.
The room fell silent.
Then, unexpectedly...
Ethan stood between them.
"No."
Everyone stared.
"For the first time in my life..."
"I'm done protecting you."
Margaret laughed bitterly.
"You think they'll forgive you?"
Ethan looked toward the front door.
"I don't deserve forgiveness."
"But Emily deserves the truth."
He walked out.
Without security.
Without lawyers.
Without looking back.
Margaret watched her younger son leave.
She suddenly realized something terrifying.
May you like
She had finally lost the one person she could always control.
END OF CHAPTER 8
