Chapter 1 - The Photograph Celeste Shouldn’t Have Known About
At Adrian Marchetti’s charity gala outside Chicago, housemaid Emily Parker was cornered beside the grand piano by Adrian’s elegant fiancée, Celeste Romano.
Celeste accused Emily of secretly photographing guests, ripped Emily’s inexpensive phone from her hand, crushed it beneath her heel, then slapped Emily in front of the wealthy crowd.
But Adrian noticed something more important than the slap.
Celeste ordered Emily to delete “the photograph.”
Emily had never mentioned any photograph.
Adrian quietly ordered his security chief to recover the phone.
The final images showed Adrian’s nine-year-old son, Noah, entering a hidden corridor inside the mansion’s abandoned north wing. In one photograph, a dark-haired woman wearing a silver pendant stood behind him.
The pendant belonged to Adrian’s wife, Katherine.
Katherine had supposedly died six years earlier.
Emily admitted Noah had secretly visited the corridor on nights when Celeste dismissed his security. Celeste had discovered Emily taking pictures and warned her that the mysterious woman was mentally ill.
But Celeste had also claimed Katherine had a sister.
Katherine had been an only child.
Adrian followed Emily through a hidden staircase behind his grandfather’s portrait and discovered Noah locked inside an old room.
A dinner tray had been set for two.
Noah carried a drawing made by the mysterious woman. On its back was a message written in Katherine’s unmistakable handwriting:
Adrian, if Noah brings you here, it means Celeste finally made a mistake.
Security then reported that Celeste had fled the estate with Noah’s longtime doctor.
Finally, a hidden door began opening.
From behind it came a weak woman’s voice Adrian had not heard in six years.
Katherine’s voice.
And before Adrian could see her face, she whispered:
May you like
“Before you look at me, Adrian… ask yourself why Celeste had your wife declared dead three hours before they found my car.”
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