“Do you want me to come with you?” she offered, hesitantly.
Did I? My fucking brain, heart and gut instincts went to war. I took so long to consider that she said it was all right if I didn’t want her to and turned to leave again.
“Yeah. Let’s go,” I said quickly.
We travelled through the labyrinthine halls to the oldest part of the building. It was obviously less well-kept than the rest of the place.
“Did the servants not come here?” Sierra asked.
I snorted. “Not much. No need. My parents preferred the newer part of the house that they had added on. This section had been used more by Harris and Cordelia when they lived here, so it’s been neglected for a while.”
“I see.”
“Depending on what you want to do with the place,” I said, “you’ll need more staff than the ones we let go if you’re going to use the full house.”
“I really don’t want to think about that right now.”
“I don’t blame you.”
When we got to the old office, I stopped in front of the door, fighting with myself to open the door. The last time I’d been here, my parents had been arguing about whether to just kill Sierra or have me marry her. Because, you know, she was supposedly Harris’s kid. But even then, Helene had said to Harold, “Maybe you should just claim her as your daughter.”
Bile rolled in my stomach. They’d acted like they’d just been joking. Did they both know, even then? They’d said there was DNA evidence linking Sierra as Harris’s daughter – not my sister. Why lie?
“Are you okay?” Sierra asked. “We don’t have to do this right now if you’re not up to it.”
I straightened. “No. Let’s get it over with.”
My readiness for the occasion was greatly exaggerated. Memories assaulted me from the moment I stepped through the door, and it was all as clear as if it had just happened. I looked at the balcony doors. Closed now, but they’d been open then despite the cold. I’d thought it odd at the time. As well as how the door behind me had slammed shut while I was yelling at my father. My eyes narrowed and belated intuition chilled my insides.
Had there been someone hidden in the room?
Sierra was staring at me, concern and questions all over her face.
“Right,” I said, more confidently than I felt. It should be over here somewhere. I poked my wand around the bookcase, pretty sure I’d spotted a magical outline coming from there once after my mother had been looking for something there. I was coming up blank until Sierra came over to help.
As soon as she passed her hand over a place I’d already looked, several books disappeared, and a large black panel took their place.
“Well, I guess it helps having the lady of the house around,” I said, and she gave me a side-eye.
“Since you found it, do you want to do the honors?” I asked.
She shook her head quickly. “No. I’ll give you some privacy. This is between you and your mother,” she said quietly.
I didn’t think I could take any more absent-and-abusive-parent emotions. “Please stay.”
She stared into my eyes for a few beats then nodded.
I passed my hand over the blank plate in front of me and the keypad appeared. I pressed in REVENGE, and wasn’t surprised when nothing happened, since the last two times it had failed.
“Are you sure there wasn’t a typo?” she asked.
I gestured to the safe. “You’re welcome to try.”
We watched carefully to make sure there were no errors, and the keypad went blank when she was finished.
Still nothing. Sierra’s sigh matched my own. I was really getting sick of my mother’s little games. Even in death, she still managed to get on my nerves.
“Well, I suppose that’s—”
I cut off when the wall a whirring noise began. We stepped back and the safe door opened. There were two large manila envelopes inside.
I looked at Sierra and she flicked her eyebrows as if to tell me to take them.
There was a slight tremor in my hand as I retrieved them. One was marked “Daniel’s Copy” and the other, “For Heathcliff.”
I took them over to the small sofa on the other side of the room. My knees were so weak, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could stand. I motioned for Sierra to join me and handed her the envelope with Daniel’s name.
“Do you want me to open it?” she asked.
I nodded, my lips pulled between my teeth. I was too nervous to speak. I thought about asking her to open the other one too, I was so chickenshit in that moment. But I didn’t.
I waited until she’d read Daniel’s contents, my stomach sinking lower with each expression crossing her face. “Well?”
“Nothing new, really. It’s a list of DNA results, comparing relationships across the coven and the school.” Her eyes were desperately sad. “Nothing we didn’t already know,” she finished in a small voice.
I smacked the other envelope on my lap. “Well, no point in reading this, I guess.”
“I think you should,” she said, quietly. “It could be about something else entirely.”
