Chapter Two — The Letter in the Wall

The next morning, Silver Oaks woke beneath heavy rain.

Rumors spread through the servants’ quarters.

Some believed Amelia was investigating an old scandal.

Others suspected she was connected to the Ashbourne family.

Thomas Reed refused to discuss it.

“Until we know the truth,” he told the younger servants, “we know nothing.”

Upstairs, Eleanor confronted the duke.

“You know Miss Hart.”

The duke remained silent.

“You recognized her father’s name.”

Still nothing.

Finally, he walked toward the window.

“Twenty-eight years ago, your father and I were involved in a property dispute.”

“My father never mentioned it.”

“He had reasons.”

“What reasons?”

The duke turned.

“Because the property was never entirely his.”

Eleanor stared at him.

“What are you saying?”

“The eastern lands of Silver Oaks were transferred under questionable circumstances.”

Eleanor felt the room become strangely cold.

“My father stole them?”

“I did not say that.”

“But you implied it.”

Before the conversation could continue, a servant entered.

“Lady Eleanor, Miss Hart requests to see you immediately.”

Amelia was waiting in the library.

She placed an old envelope on the desk.

“My father left this for you.”

Eleanor looked at the faded handwriting.

She recognized it.

Her father.

With trembling fingers, she opened the envelope.

Inside was a letter.

It explained that decades earlier, Silver Oaks had nearly fallen into bankruptcy. Eleanor’s father had secretly sold part of the estate to a local businessman named Arthur Hart.

Amelia’s father.

But the sale had never been registered properly.

Instead, Eleanor’s father had promised to return the property once the estate recovered.

He never did.

Amelia’s father had spent the rest of his life believing that the Ashbournes had deliberately cheated him.

Eleanor looked up.

“Why bring this to me now?”

“Because my father discovered another document shortly before he died.”

Amelia handed her a second paper.

It contained a shocking clause.

If the eastern land was ever developed for commercial purposes, ownership would automatically return to the Hart family.

Eleanor’s face went pale.

The duke entered the room.

He looked at the document.

“So it has been found.”

Eleanor turned sharply.

“You knew?”

“Yes.”

“And you brought Amelia here because you wanted the document?”

“No.”

The duke looked toward Amelia.

“I brought her here because I wanted the truth uncovered before someone else discovered it.”

That someone turned out to be Margaret, the duke’s daughter.

She had secretly been negotiating to purchase the eastern land.

She planned to build a luxury hotel there.

If the document became public, her entire investment would collapse.

That night, Eleanor found Margaret in the library.

“You knew about the contract.”

Margaret did not deny it.

“I knew there was a possibility.”

“You intended to buy land that might not belong to us.”

“I intended to save my father’s financial future.”

“And destroy another family’s claim?”

Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.

“You think this house is the only thing worth saving. It isn’t.”

For the first time, Eleanor understood.

The old world had taught everyone to protect their inheritance.

The new world demanded that they decide what their inheritance was actually worth.

Before dawn, Eleanor made a decision.

She would not hide the document.

She would call the entire household together.

But when Thomas Reed opened the library door that morning, he found the document missing.

Someone had stolen it.

And only four people had known where it was.