Chapter 7 - The Hidden Truth
Caroline returned to Sterling Tower, exhausted but relentless.
She sat on the sofa next to her mother, who was now wearing a plush silk robe and drinking warm tea.
"Mom," Caroline asked gently. "Do you remember anything else about the estate papers?"
Margaret closed her eyes, thinking back to the chaotic days after her husband's death.
"Amanda was always rushing me," Margaret recalled.
"She made me sign things while I was grieving. But your father..."
Margaret paused, a strange look crossing her face.
"Your father gave me a safe deposit box key the day before he died."
Caroline sat up straight. "A key? Where is it?"
"I hid it," Margaret smiled weakly. "I knew Amanda was snooping."
"I taped it behind the old family portrait in the attic of the summer house."
Caroline’s heart raced.
Amanda had sold the main family estate, but the small summer cabin in upstate New York was in Margaret's maiden name.
Amanda hadn't been able to touch it.
"Marcus," Caroline called out to her investigator, who was standing by the door.
"Get the helicopter ready. We are going to upstate New York."
Within an hour, they were soaring over the Hudson River.
They landed on the lawn of the abandoned summer cabin.
Caroline rushed inside, heading straight for the dusty attic.
There, hanging on a peeling wall, was an old painting of Caroline and Amanda as children.
Caroline reached behind the heavy wooden frame.
Her fingers brushed against a small, hard object taped to the canvas.
She pulled it free.
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It was a silver key, stamped with the logo of the most secure private bank in Manhattan.
Whatever her father had hidden away, it was going to change everything.
