Chapter 110 Chapter 110
Hailey’s POV
“Even though,,” he said again, his voice dropping to a whisper. “You’re not supposed to be here. This room is off-limits.”
I kept the journal pressed firmly against my back, my heart pounding so hard I was sure he could hear it.
“I know,” I said, standing slowly and trying to look appropriately guilty. “I’m sorry. I just… I couldn’t stop myself.”
“Couldn’t stop yourself from what?” Louis asked, stepping further into the room.
I took a breath, preparing the lie I’d been constructing in my head. “From trying to figure out what Elena had that made her almost ethereal. Whenever people speak of her, it’s like she was this perfect, untouchable person. I needed to see her space, understand who she really was.”
Louis’s expression softened slightly at my words. He seemed to understand the insecurity behind them the feeling of competing with a ghost, with a memory that had been polished to perfection by time and grief.
“Elena was human,” Louis said quietly. “She had flaws and fears like everyone else. She wasn’t perfect, no matter what people remember.”
“That’s what I wanted to know,” I said, taking a small step toward the door. “The real her. Not the saint everyone’s turned her into.”
I deliberately left out any mention of the journal.
“I understand why you’d feel that way,” Louis said, his voice gentle. “But Miss Hailey, you need to be more careful. Being in here could cause problems.”
“Problems with who?” I asked, though I already knew the answer.
“With Sophia,” Louis said immediately. “If she finds out you’ve been in her mother’s room, going through her things, it will make the situation between you two even worse. She’s already volatile. This could push her over the edge.”
“And Damien?” I asked.
Louis hesitated. “Mr. Alejandro hasn’t been in this room since Elena died. Having someone else in here, especially his new partner, it might… upset him. Bring up painful memories.”
“I understand,” I said. “I’ll be more careful. I promise.”
“Good,” Louis said, then added with a pointed look, “And that means staying out of sealed rooms.”
I nodded, trying to look contrite even as the journal pressed against my spine felt like it was burning through my clothes.
“I have Sophia covered,” I said, trying to redirect the conversation. “She won’t be a problem.”
Louis looked at me curiously. “What do you mean by that?”
“Just that I know how to handle her,” I said vaguely. “She’s predictable. Emotional. Easy to manage if you know which buttons to push.”
Louis didn’t look entirely convinced, but he nodded. “Just be careful. All of you. This house has enough tension without adding more.”
“I will be,” I promised.
We walked out of Elena’s room together, and Louis locked the door behind us with a key from his ring. I watched carefully, noting which key he used, already planning how I might get access to it again.
As we moved down the hallway, a sound made both of us stop.
Banging. Loud, insistent banging coming from down the corridor.
“What the hell?” Louis muttered, moving toward the source of the noise.
It was Sophia’s door. She was pounding on it from the inside, her voice muffled but clearly distressed.
“HELLO? CAN ANYONE HEAR ME? THE DOOR IS LOCKED AGAIN!”
Louis looked at me with confusion. “Again? This is the second time this has happened.”
I shrugged, trying to look innocent. “Maybe her lock really is broken. You should check it.”
“PLEASE!” Sophia screamed from inside. “SOMEONE HELP ME!”
Louis moved toward her door, already pulling out his key ring.
I took that opportunity to slip away, hurrying down the hallway toward my own room before Louis could ask me any more questions or notice the unnatural way I was holding my arm behind my back.
I reached my room, slipped inside, and locked the door behind me.
Only then did I allow myself to pull the journal from behind my back, my hands shaking slightly with relief and adrenaline.
I’d made it. I’d gotten the journal out of Elena’s room without Louis discovering it.
I moved to my bed and carefully hid the journal under my mattress, pushing it far toward the middle where it wouldn’t be easily found if someone changed the sheets.
Then I lay down on top of the bed, staring at the ceiling, listening to the distant sounds of Louis helping Sophia out of her locked room.
After several minutes, the house grew quiet again. Louis must have freed Sophia and returned to his duties. The crisis was over.
I waited another twenty minutes to be safe, then pulled the journal back out from under the mattress.
I needed to read the rest. Needed to know what Elena had discovered, what she’d been afraid of.
I opened the journal to where I’d left off, my phone providing light as I read Elena’s neat handwriting.
”I heard one of them say ‘the boss doesn’t need to know.’ They were talking about Damien. About keeping something from him.
I confronted one of the guards later, asked him point-blank what was going on. He looked terrified, said I’d misunderstood, that it was nothing important.
But I know what I heard. And it’s not the first time.
Someone is changing Damien’s rules behind his back.
I’ve been watching. Paying attention. Trying to figure out who it could be.
There are a few possibilities. People who have access, who have been with Damien long enough to have earned his trust.
I need to be careful how I investigate this. If the person realizes I’m onto them, I could be in danger.
But I have to know. Have to understand who’s betraying Damien right under his nose.
Tomorrow I’m going to start documenting everything I notice. Every change, every order that doesn’t make sense, every time something happens that Damien didn’t authorize.
I’ll find out who this is. And when I have proof, I’ll tell Damien everything.”
That was the last entry in the journal. The very last page.
I flipped through the remaining pages, but they were all blank. Elena had either stopped writing in this particular journal or had started a new one.
The second journal. The one still hidden in the floor compartment.
That must be where Elena continued her investigation. Where she documented what she’d discovered.
I sat there holding the journal, feeling frustrated and anxious.
I needed that second journal. Needed to know what Elena had found, who she’d identified as the traitor.