Chapter 4 - Whispers in the Service Halls
The staff quarters beneath the main mansion were a maze of stone tunnels and damp limestone walls.
Clara sat on the edge of her narrow cot, packing her few belongings into a canvas duffle bag under the yellow flicker of a bare bulb.
The door creaked open, admitting Mrs. Gable, the head housekeeper who had served the Vance family for over three decades.
The older woman closed the door softly, sliding an iron deadbolt into place.
"You shouldn't have revealed yourself, child," Mrs. Gable murmured, setting a warm cup of chicory tea on the wooden footlocker.
"I didn't plan it," Clara replied, her voice breaking for the first time that night.
"I was only supposed to clean the silver in the pantry."
"The pantry doors were locked from the outside; someone deliberately forced me through the grand hall."
Mrs. Gable’s eyes narrowed into grim slits as she leaned against the doorframe.
"Victoria."
"She suspected Julian was keeping secrets about the boy’s real lineage."
"She wanted a spectacle to force Julian to purge the old staff."
Clara looked up, her pulse quickening with cold realization.
"She used Leo as bait to smoke me out."
"She doesn't care about that little boy’s heart, Sarah."
"To her, he is an obstacle between her future children and the Vance family estate."
Mrs. Gable pulled a small, tarnished brass key from the deep pocket of her wool cardigan.
"The laundry chute in the east wing connects directly to the service dumbwaiter behind the nursery."
"Julian’s private guards change shifts at three in the morning."
"You have twenty minutes before the night patrol locks the service stairwell."
Clara stared at the brass key, the warmth of the tea untouched between them.
"Why are you helping me, Martha?"
Mrs. Gable touched Clara’s shoulder with a weathered, calloused hand.
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"Because I held that baby the night you gave birth in the storm, while Julian had his lawyers waiting in the corridor with pens."
"A mother doesn't abandon her blood, not even when wolves are guarding the gates."
