Chapter Thirty-Two
The Secret Beneath
The morning after the date, Raven stood in front of the large windows of her penthouse, staring at the city below.
Chicago was already awake.
Cars moved through the streets. Buildings reflected the morning sunlight. People hurried to their offices, completely unaware that somewhere among them was a woman trying to uncover the truth about her mother's death.
Raven still had the photograph in her hand.
Her mother.
The Hale Main Building.
And the mysterious person whose face had been scratched out.
She had barely slept.
The message kept repeating in her mind.
Your mother didn't die because of Jeff.
Raven's jaw tightened.
For five years, she had believed Jeff and Bella were responsible for everything.
They had betrayed her.
They had taken her mother's properties.
They had forced her out of her own home.
They had left her broken and alone.
But now someone was telling her that there was more.
And Raven hated unanswered questions.
Her phone rang.
"Raven."
Andrea's voice came through.
"What did you find?"
"We checked the building again."
"And?"
"There are signs someone has been inside recently."
Raven's expression hardened.
"Who?"
"We don't know yet."
"Then find out."
Andrea hesitated.
"There is something else."
Raven turned from the window.
"What?"
"We found an old access record connected to the basement."
Raven went still.
"The basement?"
"Yes."
"Send it to me."
"I already did."
Raven checked her phone.
A file had arrived.
She opened it.
There was an old photograph of her mother standing outside the Hale Main Building.
Raven stared at it.
She remembered that day.
She had been young.
Her mother had told her not to wander around the building.
Especially not near the basement.
At the time, Raven had assumed it was simply another one of her mother's rules.
Now she wasn't so sure.
"I'll be there in thirty minutes," Raven said.
"Raven—"
"I said I'll be there."
She ended the call.
---
Thirty minutes later, Raven stood in front of the Hale Main Building.
Jane stood beside her while Andrea waited near the entrance.
"You're sure you want to do this today?" Jane asked.
Raven looked at the building.
"I've waited long enough."
They entered.
The atmosphere inside was different from what Raven remembered.
The building had once felt warm.
Alive.
Now it felt like a tomb.
Raven walked slowly through the hallway.
Every corner carried a memory.
Her mother's office.
The staircase where she used to sit as a child.
The dining room where they had celebrated birthdays.
She stopped in front of an old photograph hanging on the wall.
Her mother was smiling.
Raven reached up and touched the frame.
"I wish you had told me the truth."
Andrea stood silently behind her.
Raven finally stepped away.
"Take me to the basement."
They walked downstairs.
The basement door was old, but the lock had recently been replaced.
Andrea noticed it too.
"Someone changed this."
Raven's eyes narrowed.
"When?"
"Recently."
Raven reached for the handle.
Locked.
Andrea stepped forward.
"I can get it open."
"No."
Raven pulled a small key from her pocket.
Jane looked at her.
"You had a key?"
"My mother gave it to me years ago."
"Why didn't you ever use it?"
Raven stared at the door.
"She told me never to."
She inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
The door opened.
Cold air rushed toward them.
Raven stepped inside.
The room was filled with old boxes and documents.
Some were covered in dust.
Others weren't.
Someone had been searching through them.
Andrea immediately noticed.
"Someone was here."
Raven's eyes moved across the room.
"Find out what they were looking for."
Jane began examining the files.
Raven walked toward a large wooden cabinet.
Inside were old documents belonging to her mother.
Property records.
Financial statements.
Photographs.
Correspondence.
Then she found a black folder.
There was no name on it.
Only a symbol.
Raven recognized it immediately.
The same symbol she'd seen on the photograph.
Her fingers tightened around the folder.
She opened it.
The first page contained several names.
Some belonged to wealthy businessmen.
Others belonged to people Raven had heard whispered about in Chicago's darker circles.
Then she saw her mother's name.
Raven's breathing stopped.
Her mother had been connected to them.
Not socially.
Not professionally.
Something deeper.
Something secret.
Andrea looked over her shoulder.
"What is it?"
Raven didn't answer.
She turned the page.
There was another photograph.
Her mother was standing beside several masked figures.
And in the center was a woman wearing a mask with a strange insignia.
Raven stared at it.
"Who are these people?"
Andrea shook her head.
"I don't know."
Raven turned another page.
Then she froze.
There was a handwritten note.
She recognized her mother's handwriting immediately.
If anything happens to me, Raven must never be allowed to open the basement.
Raven's heart pounded.
She read the sentence again.
Then again.
"Why?" she whispered.
Behind her, something fell.
Everyone turned.
A box had been knocked from a shelf.
Andrea immediately moved toward it.
But Raven's attention was drawn to something beneath the box.
A small metal key.
Attached to it was a tag.
PRIVATE ARCHIVE.
Raven picked it up.
She looked around the room.
There had to be another door.
Her eyes moved across the walls until they stopped at a section that looked slightly different.
Andrea followed her gaze.
"Raven…"
"Move the cabinet."
Together, they pushed it aside.
Behind it was a narrow door.
Raven inserted the key.
The door opened.
Inside was a small room.
And on the wall were dozens of photographs.
Her mother.
Jeff.
Bella.
People Raven had never seen before.
And one photograph made her blood run cold.
It was Raven herself.
Taken when she was young.
Standing beside her mother.
Someone had been watching her family long before the betrayal.
Raven slowly lowered the photograph.
Her voice was barely audible.
"This wasn't about Jeff."
Andrea stared at the wall.
"No."
Raven looked at the photographs again.
For the first time, she understood.
Jeff and Bella might have destroyed her life.
But they hadn't started the fire.
Someone else had.
And that person had been watching her family for years.
Raven clenched her fist around the photograph.
"Find out who took these."
Andrea nodded.
"And Raven…"
Raven looked at her.
"What?"
Andrea pointed to the final photograph on the wall.
There was no date.
No name.
Only one sentence written across the bottom.
SHE WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO SURVIVE.
Raven stared at it.
Her blood ran cold.
Because suddenly, her mother's death wasn't the only mystery.
Her own survival was.
To be continued…