Raven couldn't take her eyes off the photograph.
It was an old picture of her mother, standing in front of the Hale Main Building.
But this time, Raven wasn't looking at her mother.
She was looking at the woman standing beside her.
The same woman appeared in several photographs scattered across the private archive.
Always masked.
Always close to her mother.
And always with the same insignia on her mask.
Raven picked up another photograph.
"This woman…"
Andrea stepped closer.
"You recognize her?"
"No."
Raven studied the picture.
"But my mother did."
Jane carefully examined one of the documents.
"There are dates here."
Raven turned.
"What dates?"
Jane pointed to the papers.
"These meetings happened for years."
Raven walked over.
Her mother's name appeared repeatedly.
So did the name of an organization Raven had never heard mentioned in any family records.
The Blackwood Circle.
Raven frowned.
"What is that?"
Andrea shook her head.
"Never heard of it."
"Then find out."
Andrea nodded.
Raven looked back at the photographs.
Her mother's expression in every picture was different from the woman Raven remembered.
Confident.
Serious.
Almost commanding.
It was as though she had been living an entirely different life.
Then Raven noticed something.
A photograph had been folded behind another.
She pulled it out.
Her heart stopped.
It was her mother holding a much younger Raven.
Standing beside them was the masked woman.
But unlike the other photographs, this one had writing on the back.
Raven turned it over.
Her mother's handwriting.
She knows where everything is. If I'm gone, trust no one.
Raven's fingers tightened around the photograph.
"Who is she?"
Nobody answered.
Suddenly, Andrea's phone rang.
She stepped away to answer it.
A few seconds later, her expression changed.
"What?"
Raven immediately looked at her.
Andrea ended the call.
"Security just found something upstairs."
"What?"
"Someone broke into the building last night."
Raven's eyes narrowed.
"Did they take anything?"
Andrea shook her head.
"No."
"Then what did they do?"
"They left something."
---
They returned upstairs.
A security officer was waiting beside Raven's mother's old office.
He handed Andrea a small envelope.
"There was no name."
Raven took it.
She opened it slowly.
Inside was a single sheet of paper.
Only four words were written on it.
Stop looking for her.
Raven stared at the message.
Her expression became cold.
"Whoever left this was inside my building."
Andrea nodded.
"And they knew exactly what we were searching for."
Raven folded the paper.
"Then they're afraid."
Andrea looked at her.
"Afraid of what?"
Raven glanced toward the basement.
"The truth."
---
Across blackwood's height, Jeff sat alone in his office.
He had received a phone call ten minutes earlier.
The caller had refused to identify himself.
But the message had been clear.
Raven had opened the basement.
Jeff's face went pale.
He immediately stood.
"No."
He began pacing.
She wasn't supposed to know.
Not yet.
He had spent years burying that part of the past.
Then his phone rang again.
Unknown number.
Jeff answered.
"Who is this?"
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
"You should have stopped her."
Jeff froze.
"Who are you?"
"You know exactly who I am."
The call ended.
Jeff stared at the phone.
His hands were shaking.
For the first time, he understood that Raven wasn't the only person searching for answers.
Someone else was watching.
Someone who knew everything.
---
That evening, Raven returned to her penthouse.
She placed the photographs across her desk.
Her mother's past.
The Blackwood Circle.
The masked woman.
The basement.
The warning.
Everything was connected.
But one question remained.
Why had her mother kept all of this hidden from her?
Raven picked up the photograph of herself as a child.
She stared at her younger face.
Then at her mother's.
"I survived," she whispered.
Her voice hardened.
"And now I'm going to find out why."
Her phone suddenly vibrated.
A message.
Unknown Number.
Raven opened it.
There was a photograph.
Not an old one.
A recent one.
It showed Eleanor leaving Vance Capital Holdings.
Raven's blood ran cold.
Underneath the photograph was a message:
"You should be more careful about who you let close to you."
Raven stared at the screen.
Her entire demeanor changed.
For the first time, the mystery wasn't just about her mother.
Someone had brought Eleanor into it.
Raven immediately called Andrea.
"Find out who sent this."
Andrea heard the seriousness in her voice.
"What's wrong?"
Raven looked at Eleanor's photograph.
"Someone is watching her."
A pause.
Then Raven added quietly,
"And whoever it is just made the biggest mistake of their life."
To be continued…