Chapter 3: The Letter From The Dead
The name hung in the air like a curse.
Daniel Vale.
For ten years, everyone had spoken about him as if he belonged to the past.
A missing man.
A forgotten brother.
A painful memory that should have stayed buried.
But now his name was written on an envelope sitting in the center of Blackthorn Manor.
And somehow, he had sent it.
Arthur stared at the handwriting for several seconds without blinking.
I knew that look.
He was trying to make sense of something impossible.
The same way I had tried ten years ago when my brother vanished.
The same way I had sat alone in that tiny apartment, staring at unanswered messages and wondering whether I would ever see him again.
“Give it to me,” Arthur said.
Thomas hesitated.
“My lord…”
“Give it to me.””
The old butler slowly placed the envelope into Arthur’s hand.
Victoria watched with a strange satisfaction.
She wanted this moment.
She wanted Arthur to open that letter because she believed whatever was inside would finish destroying me.
But she was wrong.
Because she didn’t know Daniel.
She didn’t know my brother’s obsession with the truth.
She didn’t know how carefully he planned every move.
Arthur broke the seal.
The sound was painfully loud.
Everyone stood still.
Then he unfolded the letter.
His eyes moved across the page.
Once.
Twice.
Then his expression changed.
“Arthur?”” I whispered.
He didn’t answer.
Victoria stepped closer.
“What does it say?””
Arthur ignored her.
He kept reading.
I watched his fingers tighten around the paper.
“Arthur.””
This time, he looked up.
And the disappointment in his eyes hurt more than anger.
“What did Daniel know about you?””
My chest tightened.
“I told you.””
“You told me your brother disappeared after investigating my family.””
“Yes.””
“But you never told me he contacted you afterward.””
The room went silent.
Because I had no answer.
Not one that would make sense.
“I…”
Victoria smiled.
“There it is.””
I looked at her.
“What?””
“The truth.””
“No.””
She shook her head.
“You spent years pretending you were just an innocent woman who married into this family by accident.””
Her voice became sharper.
“But you knew exactly who Arthur was.””
“That is not true.””
“Then why did Daniel write this?””
Arthur looked down at the letter again.
“Rose…”
I stepped closer.
“Let me see it.””
For a moment, I thought he would give it to me.
Instead, he folded it.
“No.””
The single word hurt.
“Arthur, please.””
“I need answers.””
“I know.””
His eyes met mine.
“Then give them.””
I looked around the library.
At Victoria.
At Thomas.
At the portraits watching from the walls.
This was not how I wanted him to learn.
Not like this.
Not with everyone waiting for my fall.
“Daniel was not trying to expose your family because he hated you,” I said.
Arthur’s expression remained unreadable.
“Then why?””
“Because he believed someone inside Blackthorn was stealing from the company.””
Victoria crossed her arms.
“You keep avoiding the question.””
I turned toward her.
“You already know more than you should.””
A flicker of annoyance crossed her face.
Good.
For the first time, she looked uncertain.
Arthur noticed.
“Victoria.””
She looked at him.
“What?””
“How did you find Daniel’s apartment?””
Silence.
Her confidence faded slightly.
“I told you. I investigated.””
“That doesn’t answer my question.””
Victoria looked away.
“I had resources.””
“What resources?””
She didn’t respond.
Arthur took a step toward her.
“You expect me to believe you uncovered all of this by yourself?””
Her jaw tightened.
“You are defending her now?””
“No.””
His voice was cold.
“I am asking questions.””
Victoria looked at me.
Then smiled.
“Ask her about the night Daniel disappeared.””
My stomach dropped.
Arthur turned back to me.
“The night he disappeared?””
I closed my eyes.
There was no more avoiding it.
Not anymore.
“Daniel came to see me.””
Arthur stared.
“When?””
“The night before he vanished.””
Victoria whispered:
“And what did he tell you?””
I looked at the fireplace.
I could still remember that night.
The rain.
The fear in Daniel’s eyes.
The way he kept checking the window.
He had arrived at my apartment after midnight.
Soaked.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
“Rose,” he had said, “if anything happens to me, you cannot trust anyone connected to Blackthorn.””
I remembered grabbing his arm.
“What are you talking about?””
He had placed a small notebook in my hands.
“Take this.””
“What is it?””
“Everything I found.””
“Daniel, you’re scaring me.””
He had looked at me.
And for the first time in my life, I saw fear in my older brother’s eyes.
“Promise me you won’t open it unless you have no other choice.””
“Why?””
“Because whoever is behind this knows exactly how to make people disappear.””
I swallowed.
“I never saw him again.””
Arthur was silent.
“Why didn’t you tell me?””
The question was softer.
That made it worse.
“Because when I met you, I didn’t know if you were part of it.””
The words wounded him.
I saw it.
“I thought you believed I was different.””
“I did.””
“Then why?””
“Because Daniel warned me.””
Arthur looked away.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Then Victoria laughed.
A quiet, cruel laugh.
“Do you hear yourself?””
She looked at Arthur.
“She married you while secretly investigating your family.””
“That’s not what happened.””
“Isn’t it?””
I turned toward her.
“You don’t care about the truth.””
Victoria smiled.
“No.””
She stepped closer.
“I care about justice.””
I almost laughed.
“Justice?””
“Yes.””
“You stole money.””
“I took what I was owed.””
“You nearly destroyed this house.””
“I exposed its secrets.””
“You tried to burn the family archives.””
Her face changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Arthur noticed.
“You did what?””
Victoria froze.
“I…”
“You heard me.””
Arthur’s voice became dangerous.
“Did you try to destroy the archives?””
She looked away.
“It was an accident.””
“An accident?””
“Yes.””
Rose stepped forward.
“You dropped the box intentionally.””
Victoria’s eyes turned toward me.
“You should be careful with your accusations.””
“I was there.””
“So was Arthur.””
Arthur looked at the broken silver box.
Then at Victoria.
“Why?””
The question seemed to break something inside her.
Her face changed.
The anger returned.
“Because I was tired.””
“Tired of what?””
“Being invisible.””
Her voice rose.
“Tired of watching everyone in this family inherit everything while I had nothing.””
Arthur stared.
“You were treated as family.””
“No.””
Victoria shook her head.
“I was tolerated.””
“That is not true.””
“You never saw me.””
She pointed at me.
“You saw her.””
I said nothing.
Because this was the first time I saw the wound beneath Victoria’s cruelty.
But pain did not excuse what she had done.
Arthur looked at the letter again.
Then something caught his attention.
“What is this?””
He unfolded the page.
There was another section beneath Daniel’s message.
A handwritten note.
His face turned pale.
“What does it say?”” Victoria asked.
Arthur looked at me.
Then at Thomas.
Then back at the letter.
“Daniel wrote that if this letter reached Blackthorn Manor…”
He stopped.
“Continue,” I whispered.
Arthur’s voice became quieter.
“He wrote that the person who betrayed him is still living inside this house.””
Everyone froze.
Victoria’s eyes widened.
Thomas stepped back.
And I felt a cold wave move through me.
Because Daniel had not sent this letter to expose me.
He had sent it to warn us.
Someone in Blackthorn Manor had helped make him disappear.
Arthur looked around the room.
At every person standing there.
Then his eyes stopped on the family portrait above the fireplace.
“What else did he write?””
Arthur looked down.
His fingers trembled.
“He said…”
The room waited.
“He said the person responsible would know exactly what this symbol means.””
He turned the paper around.
A strange mark had been drawn at the bottom.
A black circle.
With a single line crossing through the center.
My breath stopped.
Because I had seen that symbol before.
On the notebook Daniel gave me.
On the night he disappeared.
And now it was appearing again.
After ten years.
“Rose,” Arthur said slowly.
“Why do you look like you recognize it?””
I couldn’t speak.
Because the truth I had buried was finally crawling back into the light.
The symbol wasn’t just connected to Daniel.
It was connected to the one person I had spent ten years believing was innocent.
My own family.
Then, from somewhere deep inside the manor, a sound echoed.
A door opening.
Everyone turned.
Thomas’s face went white.
“My lord…”
Arthur looked toward the dark hallway.
“What is it?””
The old butler whispered:
“That room has been locked for ten years.””
A cold silence followed.
Then the sound came again.
A slow footstep.
Someone was walking out.
May you like
From the room where Daniel Vale had left his final evidence.
And where nobody had entered since the night he disappeared.
