Chapter 6 - The Broken Safe
There was no smoke. There were no crying children.
Instead, the house was filled with an unnatural, suffocating stillness.
"Eli! Noah! Ben!" Adrian shouted, his voice echoing off the high ceilings.
From the sunroom down the hall came the sound of shuffling footsteps. Danielle stepped into the arched doorway. She looked calm, though her hair was slightly disheveled and there was a smudge of graphite on her left cheek.
Behind her, the three boys were sitting quietly on the rug, eating apple slices from a yellow plastic bowl.
"Mr. Mercer," Danielle said, her voice steady. "You're home early."
Adrian ignored her. He pushed past her into the hallway, his boots tracking mud across the hardwood, and headed straight for his private study at the end of the east wing.
The door to his study was wide open.
The heavy walnut paneling that concealed the wall safe had been pulled away from its magnetic hinges, exposing the steel combination dial. The safe door hung open on its heavy brass hinges.
Inside, the compartment was empty.
The manila envelope containing Rachel’s private instructions was gone.
Standing by the mahogany desk, holding a leather-bound folder against her chest with both hands, was Monica Vale.
Her face was flushed, her designer blouse slightly wrinkled at the collar, and her eyes wide with a manic, triumphant energy that Adrian had never seen before. Behind her, standing near the window, was a local locksmith holding a professional drilling kit in a metal toolbox.
"Adrian," Monica breathed, taking a step forward. "Thank God you're here. You need to see this right now before she destroys it."
Adrian crossed the room in two strides, grabbing Monica by the shoulders and shoving her back against the bookshelves with enough force to send a row of leather-bound legal statutes clattering to the floor.
"What did you do?" Adrian’s voice was a low, vibrating growl that shook the glass in the cabinet doors.
"I saved your life!" Monica cried, her hands trembling as she clutched the folder to her chest. "I came by to check on the boys because Danielle wouldn't let me in yesterday, and I found her in your study! She had the safe open! She was copying Rachel’s private papers—the ones about the trust fund, the ones that prove Rachel left everything to the boys with me as the primary trustee in the event of your incapacity!"
Adrian stopped. His hands slowly dropped from Monica’s shoulders.
He turned his head and looked toward the doorway.
Danielle was standing there, leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed over her chest. She wasn't running. She wasn't shouting. She was watching Monica with the cold, clinical detachment of a surgeon observing a patient in the final stages of a disease.
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"Is this true?" Adrian asked, his voice cracking as he looked at Danielle. "Did you open my safe?"
Danielle didn't blink. "Yes, Mr. Mercer. I did."
