Chapter 6 - The North GardenThe north garden had always been forbidden.
As a child, Victoria believed it was because the roses there were rare and delicate. Now she saw the truth in the cracked stone path, the sealed iron gate, and the old fountain that had not worked in twenty years.
This place was not protected.
It was hidden.
Sarah lifted her head. Her lip was split, but her eyes were fierce.
“Don’t give her the rings,” she said.
Charles tightened his grip on Grace.
Grace whimpered.
Eleanor sighed. “Sarah, must you always be dramatic?”
Victoria took one slow step forward. “Let the girl go.”
“Give me both rings.”
“Let Grace go first.”
Eleanor laughed softly. “You think you’re negotiating because you married a Vance and learned how men posture in boardrooms. This is older than your marriage, older than your money, older than your pretty little confidence.”
Victoria kept her hand visible. “Then tell me what it is.”
Eleanor’s smile faded.
Sarah struggled to stand. “Tell her about Amelia.”
Eleanor turned sharply. “Silence.”
“No,” Sarah said. “Tell her how Amelia begged you to let her keep her baby. Tell her how Henry changed the will after he found out what you did. Tell her why the garden gate was locked that night.”
Victoria could hear her own heartbeat.
“What did she do?”
Eleanor looked at Victoria then, and for one second the mask cracked.
“I protected you.”
“From my mother?”
“From poverty. From scandal. From a woman who would have raised you in rented rooms and cheap shoes while this family became a joke.”
Sarah spat blood onto the stones. “Amelia wanted to leave because she found out Eleanor had been stealing from the trust.”
“That trust was wasted on foolish girls,” Eleanor snapped.
Victoria’s voice was barely above a whisper. “What happened in this garden?”
No one spoke.
Then Grace said, through tears, “There’s a door.”
Everyone turned.
The child pointed toward the old fountain.
“When they brought us here, Mr. Charles opened something behind there.”
Eleanor’s face went white.
Victoria looked past the fountain.
The stone wall behind it had seams.
A hidden door.
Victoria understood then why Eleanor had chosen this place. She had not brought them to the north garden for drama. She had brought them because something buried here could still destroy her.
Victoria lifted her hand and slowly removed Sarah’s ring.
Eleanor’s eyes followed it greedily.
But instead of handing it over, Victoria threw it into the rose bushes.
Eleanor gasped.
Charles released Grace for one second.
One second was enough.
Grace bit his hand and ran.
Sarah lunged at his legs.
From behind the hedges, Marcus and two retired officers rushed in.
Charles reached under his coat, but Victoria was faster. She swung the heavy iron garden lantern from its hook and smashed it against his wrist.
He cried out and dropped to the ground.
Eleanor stepped backward.
Victoria moved toward the fountain.
“No!” Eleanor screamed.
Victoria found the seam in the stone and pushed.
The hidden door opened.
Cold air rushed out.
Inside the darkness, something metal glinted.
A small locked chest sat beneath the stairs.
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And on top of it was a baby blanket embroidered with the name:
Victoria Amelia Rosewood.
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