Chapter 11 - THE HIDDEN SAFE (CONTINUED)
I read on, my breath catching in my throat with every word.
*He believes loyalty lasts only as long as fear. He believes silence can be bought with gold or ended with a knife. I kept these letters because I knew he would turn on me the moment I became inconvenient. I served him because I had no choice. Because he held my family hostage. Because he promised me freedom and wealth, and gave me only orders and threats. Every cruelty I committed, every lie I told, every tear I caused… he commanded it. If I am dead, he murdered me. And these letters are the proof. Every order. Every threat. Every signature. Destroy him, Grace. Protect the children. And tell Adrian… I am sorry. I was weak. But I wanted to be free.*
The letter ended there. No signature. Just three final words scrawled in shaky ink: Tell him I tried.
I folded the paper slowly and placed it back atop the stack. Clara had not been merely greedy or bitter. She had been trapped. Forced. Used until she became disposable. And in the end, she had left us the one thing that could bring Julian Harrington crashing down.
“He signed everything,” I said quietly, looking up at the security guard standing watch by the library doors. “Every instruction in his own hand. Every threat. Every payment. We have him.”
May you like
The guard nodded, his expression grim. “Then we leave. Now. Before someone realizes you are here.”
We carried the iron box out to the car. I held it on my lap all the way back, my hands resting gently upon the cold metal lid. Clara had given us the sword. Now it was our turn to strike.
