Chapter 2
Victoria lifted Noah from the floor herself.
Helena laughed.
“Careful. His mother will start thinking servants sit at our table next.”
Noah shrank against Victoria.
She looked at Helena.
“Speak about him again.”
Helena raised an eyebrow.
“What?”
“Try.”
The smile faded.
Victoria carried Noah toward a padded bench.
His knee was scraped.
Nothing serious.
His fear was.
“Where is your mother?”
Noah looked at Helena first.
That mattered.
Then Marcus.
That mattered more.
“She’s working.”
“Where?”
He whispered:
“I don’t know.”
Helena scoffed.
“Imagine that. A seamstress who can’t even keep track of her own child.”
Noah’s eyes filled.
Victoria turned.
“Her name is Clara.”
Helena smiled coldly.
“To you, perhaps.”
Victoria crouched.
“What did you mean about your mother having a key like this?”
Noah pointed toward the brass key.
“Mommy found one.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Marcus interrupted.
“He’s three.”
Victoria looked at him.
“So?”
“He doesn’t know what he saw.”
Noah whispered:
“It was in Mommy’s sewing box.”
Helena laughed loudly.
“Children imagine treasures everywhere.”
Victoria noticed her hand.
One pearl ring turning around and around her finger.
Helena only did that when lying.
Daniel used to mention it.
She opened the sealed envelope.
One sentence in Daniel’s handwriting:
If the portrait moves, open the north fitting room before Helena reaches it.
Victoria looked up.
Marcus stopped breathing.
There.
No need to ask whether Daniel had meant this Helena.
She lifted the black ledger next.
Recent entries.
Dates from after Daniel’s death.
Names of capos.
Small symbols beside them.
Black circles.
Red slashes.
One name appeared three times.
CLARA REED.
Noah’s mother.
Victoria’s expression changed.
Helena stepped forward.
“That book is private.”
Victoria looked at her.
“You just told me this gallery belonged to real family.”
“It does.”
“Then why is a servant’s name in your ledger?”
Helena said nothing.
Noah tugged Victoria’s sleeve.
“Mommy didn’t come home last night.”
Silence.
Marcus closed his eyes.
Helena snapped:
“She probably ran away.”
Noah started crying.
And Helena smiled.
“See? Give servants affection and they immediately teach their children to beg.”
Victoria stood.
“Where is Clara?”
Helena stared back.
Then said the sentence that revealed too much.
May you like
“She should have kept her hands away from Daniel’s room.”
The gallery became completely silent.
