Chapter 2 - The Chef's Secret
The hospital discharged me at three in the morning with a heavy prescription for painkillers.
I had absolutely nowhere to go, so I drove to the only place that still felt like home.
I parked behind the bistro, using my master key to slip through the heavy steel kitchen doors.
The familiar scent of roasted garlic and fresh herbs hung in the dark, quiet air.
I curled up on a leather booth in the back corner, pulling my winter coat over my shivering shoulders.
I woke up hours later to the sound of heavy boots walking across the tiled floor.
It was Julian, our head chef, carrying a massive box of fresh produce from the morning market.
He dropped the crate the second he saw the thick, white bandages wrapping my neck and jaw.
"Samantha, what in the world happened to you?" he demanded, rushing over with genuine panic in his eyes.
I broke down, the emotional dam finally bursting as I sobbed into my hands.
I told him everything, from the insane demands for my car to the mug of boiling tea.
Julian’s face hardened into a mask of pure, unadulterated rage.
"I always knew your mother was a parasite, but this is actual assault," he growled.
He locked the front doors, flipping the sign to 'Closed' even though it was almost time for the lunch rush.
"We are not opening today," he stated firmly, pulling out his cell phone.
"Why not?" I asked, wiping the tears from my swollen eyes.
"Because we have to get you into your father's old office before Eleanor wakes up and changes the locks," Julian explained.
I stared at him in confusion, not understanding his sudden urgency.
"Your dad left a hidden lockbox bolted under the floorboards of his office," Julian confessed quietly.
"He told me to show you where it was if anything ever happened to him."
My blood ran completely cold at his words.
My father had died of a sudden heart attack six months ago.
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Why would he need to hide a secret lockbox from his own wife?
I realized right then that my father’s death might not have been a tragic accident after all.
