Chapter 2: The Missing Footage
Adrian ordered the ballroom cleared within minutes.
The guests protested, but no one challenged him. Blackthorn security quietly escorted them toward the marble entrance while Victoria remained beside the stage, struggling to regain her composure.
“I misunderstood the situation,” she said. “Your mother insulted me.”
Eleanor gave a faint, humorless smile.
“I asked why you were entering my late husband’s private study.”
Victoria’s expression changed for only a fraction of a second.
Clara noticed.
So did Adrian.
“What were you doing near my father’s study?” he asked.
“I was lost.”
“You have attended events here for twelve years.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“Are you truly going to humiliate me because a servant touched me?”
Adrian stepped between her and Clara.
“That servant prevented you from making the worst mistake of your life.”
Victoria stared at him, stunned.
Adrian ordered his head of security, Malcolm Price, to retrieve the surveillance footage from the west corridor.
Twenty minutes later, Malcolm returned looking uneasy.
“The cameras were disabled between eight forty and nine fifteen.”
“That is exactly when Victoria entered the corridor,” Clara said.
Victoria glared at her.
“No one asked you.”
Eleanor tightened her fingers around the armrest.
“Someone knew where the cameras were,” she said.
Adrian turned toward Malcolm.
“Who has access?”
“Senior security staff, palace management…and members of the Blackwood family.”
The room went quiet.
Victoria suddenly smiled.
“Then perhaps you should stop accusing me and start questioning your own relatives.”
She collected her coat and headed for the exit.
Before leaving, she looked directly at Clara.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Later that night, Clara returned to the servants’ wing and examined the silver key Eleanor had given her.
A tiny number was engraved on its side.
Clara searched the palace directory.
There was no Room 317.
But when she turned the key beneath the light, she noticed another engraving hidden along the edge.
May you like
Her own last name.
BENNETT.
