Chapter 3 - The First “Accident”
Alana’s right arm had not been injured in the foyer.
It had been injured three nights earlier.
She woke after midnight to the smell of smoke.
The mansion’s east hallway was filling with gray haze.
Alana ran toward the fire alarm, but the handle of her bedroom door had been tied from the outside.
She threw her shoulder against it.
Nothing.
Then she heard footsteps walking away.
Alana climbed onto a chair and forced open a narrow window.
She shouted until a security guard heard her.
When firefighters entered, they discovered a small electrical fire inside the wall.
Mark called it faulty wiring.
The investigator disagreed.
A section of insulation had been deliberately cut.
The external door restraint was gone.
Only a red mark remained around the brass handle.
The following morning, Alana confronted her family at breakfast.
Mark laughed.
“You’ve been reading too many crime novels.”
Yasmin touched Alana’s hand.
“You’re grieving.”
Gillian filmed a short clip of the damaged hallway.
“Maybe Grandma’s ghost wants the room back.”
Alana stared at her.
No one mentioned the footsteps.
That afternoon, Alana visited Vivian’s attorney, Daniel Cross.
He showed her a sealed instruction left by her grandmother.
If Alana believed coercion had begun, she was to activate the protection protocol.
Daniel fitted the black brooch with a camera.
He installed an encrypted device on Alana’s phone.
He prepared decoy legal papers containing a traceable seal and no valid transfer authority.
“Once signed under threat, the documents become evidence,” Daniel explained.
“And the real shares?”
“Already protected inside an independent trust.”
Alana returned to the mansion wearing the brooch.
The next day, she slipped near the top of the spiral staircase.
Someone had polished a single step with oil.
She caught the railing, but her right forearm slammed against the ironwork.
The bone did not break.
The swelling was severe.
Mark insisted she avoid the hospital.
Alana went anyway.
The doctor wrapped her arm and documented the injury.
When she returned, Mark was waiting beside the black marble desk.
The burgundy folder sat in his hand.
“Tomorrow morning,” he said, “you will sign.”
Alana looked at the bat leaning against the wall.
The trap was ready.
May you like
So was her family.
👉 Alana entered the foyer knowing violence was coming—but she still did not know which family member had set the fire.
