Chapter 2 - The Photograph My Mother Hid
The man insisted he was a burglar.
Nobody believed him.
Especially Kendrick.
Gabriel searched his pockets and found no identification.
What he did find was worse.
A photograph of me.
It had been taken that afternoon outside the diner where I worked my morning shift.
My name and address were written underneath.
My knees weakened.
Kendrick caught my elbow.
I pulled away.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re shaking.”
“I said I’m fine.”
He released me immediately.
That surprised me.
Men like Kendrick Ashford were supposed to take whatever they wanted.
Instead, he looked at Gabriel.
“Take him downstairs.”
The stranger laughed.
“You think this scares me?”
Kendrick met his eyes.
“No.”
His voice stayed quiet.
“What should scare you is that I haven't asked twice.”
The man stopped laughing.
After Gabriel removed him, Penny appeared in my doorway wearing Kendrick’s tuxedo jacket over her pink dress.
Titan stood beside her.
“You brought your daughter here?”
“I didn't plan to.”
Penny answered for him.
“I wouldn't stay with Uncle Barrett.”
Kendrick turned.
“What?”
Penny stared at Titan.
“Uncle Barrett makes Titan mad.”
“Why?”
“He smells bad.”
I nearly laughed.
Kendrick didn't.
“Has Barrett ever frightened you?”
Penny hesitated.
“He asks about Mommy.”
“What does he ask?”
“If I remember her.”
Kendrick crouched.
“Anything else?”
“If Mommy gave me things.”
“What things?”
Penny pointed at my throat.
“Necklaces.”
I grabbed the locket.
Kendrick stood.
“We're leaving.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
He gestured toward my destroyed apartment.
“You cannot stay here.”
“I can call the police.”
“The man Gabriel just removed will be gone before they arrive.”
“What are you going to do to him?”
“Ask better questions.”
I hated the answer.
I hated even more that I felt safer because Kendrick was there.
Then I remembered something.
My mother had hated banks.
When I was little, she hid money everywhere—inside books, rice containers, beneath drawers.
After she died, I discovered a loose panel beneath my bedroom radiator.
I hadn't touched it for years.
I knelt beside the radiator.
Behind the panel was a metal box.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And a sealed letter.
My name was written across the front.
Elena.
My hands trembled as I opened it.
My mother's handwriting stared back at me.
If you're reading this, then I failed to keep you away from the Ashfords.
I stopped breathing.
The letter explained that Isabelle Ashford had been her friend.
Three months before Isabelle died, she discovered someone inside Kendrick’s organization was secretly working against him.
That person was Barrett Hayes.
But Barrett wasn't alone.
Isabelle had copied financial records connecting him to corrupt officials and shell companies.
Then she learned someone intended to kill Kendrick and use Penny to gain control of the Ashford fortune.
The night Isabelle died, she called my mother.
Someone was following her.
My mother reached the crash before police did.
Isabelle was still alive.
She gave Anna the necklace.
She told her the evidence was hidden inside something Barrett would never consider important.
My mother ended the letter with one warning.
If Titan ever finds you, trust the dog.
Isabelle had trained him to recognize the lavender hidden inside her locket.
Titan walked into my bedroom.
He sat beside me.
I stared at the necklace.
It wasn't jewelry.
It was evidence.
Kendrick extended his hand.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
His expression hardened.
“My wife died for whatever is inside that.”
“And my mother died protecting it.”
For several seconds, neither of us moved.
Then Kendrick lowered his hand.
“You're right.”
That was the second time he surprised me.
“We open it together.”
Penny appeared behind him.
“What did Grandma's letter say?”
I frowned.
“Grandma?”
She pointed at my mother's photograph.
“That's Mommy's friend Anna.”
“How do you know?”
“I have pictures.”
Kendrick turned toward her.
“Where?”
“In Mommy's secret box.”
Less than an hour later, we were driving north.
Penny led us into Titan's private room at the Ashford estate and reached beneath his enormous leather bed.
A key was taped underneath.
Exactly where my mother used to hide keys.
Inside a wooden chest were photographs of Isabelle and Anna.
Letters.
A child's bracelet.
And a digital recorder.
One photograph showed Anna, Isabelle and Barrett together.
On the back:
BEFORE WE LEARNED WHO HE REALLY WAS.
The recorder contained seven files.
Kendrick played the first.
Isabelle’s voice filled the room.
Penny whispered, “Mommy?”
Kendrick went completely still.
“Kendrick, if you're listening to this, then I was right to be afraid.”
The recording crackled.
“Barrett isn't working alone.”
Kendrick leaned closer.
“There is someone much closer to you.”
A pause.
“Someone you trust more than him.”
Then Isabelle said the name.
Richard Ashford.
Kendrick’s uncle.
The man who had raised him after his father died.
Gabriel dropped the charger.
At that exact second, the estate alarm screamed.
Three black SUVs crashed through the south gate.
Kendrick reached beneath his jacket.
Penny grabbed my hand.
Titan growled.
Gabriel stared at the surveillance monitor.
“They knew we came here.”
May you like
And suddenly the question wasn't what Isabelle had discovered five years ago.
It was whether we would live long enough to hear the rest.
