Chapter 10
The small key hung from a chain around my neck.
I had placed it there after my father died because I couldn’t bear to put it away.
“What does it open?”
Mr.
Harlan’s expression softened.
“He wanted you to discover that for yourself.”
Before I could ask another question, my phone vibrated.
A message from Caleb appeared on the screen.
I’ve moved your things out of the master bedroom.
Come home and sign the papers, or you’ll find out what happens when I stop protecting you.
I read it twice.
Then I looked toward the darkening sky.
My husband believed he had already taken my home, my marriage, and my dignity.
But he had forgotten something.
My father had left me a key.
And for the first time since the funeral began, I was ready to find out what it opened.
Chapter 3: My father’s final gift
My father’s study smelled exactly as I remembered.
Leather-bound books, polished oak, and the faint trace of the cedarwood cologne he wore every morning.
I stood in the doorway of his Manhattan townhouse, unable to move.
For as long as I could remember, that room had been his sanctuary.
He made his most important decisions behind that desk.
He also listened to my childhood problems there, treating a broken friendship or a disappointing school grade with the same seriousness he brought to a billion-dollar negotiation.
Now his chair was empty.
And I had come looking for answers he could no longer give me.
Mr.
Harlan had arranged for me to enter the townhouse after the funeral.
He offered to accompany me, but I asked for a few minutes alone.
I wanted to feel close to my father before I faced whatever he had hidden.
I walked to his desk.
The top drawer opened easily.
Inside were pens, reading glasses, a notebook, and a photograph of us standing in the rose garden on my wedding day.
Caleb stood beside me in the picture.
My father stood on my other side.
I remembered how Caleb had complained that my father looked too serious.
Now I understood why.
I set the photograph facedown.
Then I noticed a narrow brass keyhole inside the wooden frame beneath the drawer.
It was almost invisible.
I took the little key from around my neck.
My hands trembled as I inserted it.
It turned smoothly.
A hidden compartment slid open beneath the desk.