The Silent Guest

Chapter Five

Adam sat alone in the drawing room, firelight flickering against the ornate walls. He hadn't lit it. One of the officers must have done it, trying to add warmth to a place that had none left.

But the Goodman estate had always been cold to him. Even when he was a child—hidden in the corners, half-acknowledged, never fully part of the family. The bastard son of Richard Goodman and a woman whose name was erased from every family record.

He stared into the flames.

Laura is dead.

And someone wanted her silenced.

The envelope she'd sent was still in Lana Kennedy's hands, but he could almost feel the words branded into his memory. Her last warning. Her fear.

"If anything happens to me, don't trust anyone."

Not even her.

He wasn't sure if she meant Victoria, or Elise. Or even himself.

He stood and crossed to the liquor cabinet, pulling out a crystal decanter of whiskey—aged, expensive, untouched in years. He poured, took a long sip, let the burn settle.

Memories drifted in, uninvited. Laura at seventeen—sharp-eyed, already wearing the weight of the family name like armor. She had found him by accident one summer, at the edge of a family function, alone with his mother's old journal. Instead of turning him away, she'd given him one chance.

One.

He'd broken that trust once. It was why they stopped speaking. Why he hadn't seen her in three years—until tonight, when her body lay cold under that damned chandelier.

He gripped the glass tighter.

"I didn't kill her," he murmured. "You know that, Laura."

But did he?

Something was missing from the red room. The old leather book Richard kept locked in his desk. A ledger. Names, dates, secrets. If someone had it… they could control every major decision in the Goodman legacy.

He turned at the sound of approaching footsteps—just as Detective Kennedy entered the room again.

Her eyes had changed. Harder. Sharper.

"What is it?" he asked.

"We found someone hiding in the east wing."

Adam didn't flinch. "Who?"

"She says you told her to disappear. That if she was found, she'd be next."

A long silence stretched between them.

Adam set the glass down carefully. "What did she tell you her name is?"

"She hasn't yet."

He nodded once. "Then she's lying. Because if it's who I think it is… she hasn't used her real name in years."

Rachel took a step closer. "Who is she, Adam?"

He met her eyes.

"My mother's daughter. My half-sister."

"The other Goodman heir."