Page 17 of Vows of Silence

Luca:Where wouldyouhide it?

“Come on… I’m all about personal growth and learning things for ourselves, but just for once, can’t you just give me the answer?”

The typing bubble didn’t even appear this time.

I guess there’s my answer.

Come on, Isabelle, think.

I leant back in my dad’s chair, rocking slightly back and forth as I thought over my options.

The desk was probably a no-go. He had endless meetings in here, and the desk was the most visited area. Two chairs sat in front, and some of the businessmen brought their associates who gathered around the desk. It would be too easy for someone to help themselves to secrets to use as leverage.

My eyes glanced around the office.

The filing cabinet was a possibility, but I’d looked in there recently when helping Marco find some information about a past property. I’d helped my dad organise those files more times than I could count. They were full of legitimate house sales.

So where else would something be hiding?

The office was large and spacious, but it was sparely furnished with anything that could contain storage. Save forthe filing cabinets and the desk, most everything else was for comfort.

I huffed out a breath, leaning forward and resting my elbows on the desk.

Did he keep things in here at all? Was it entirely possible that he had another room that… Wait—

“That trapdoor comment wasn’t an entirely throwaway thing, was it?”

Luca:You’re getting warmer.

My eyes went to the bookcase.

No…

That was just too much of a movie villain cliché. A secret room behind the bookcase?

And yet I got to my feet anyway, scanning the books as I approached. Just as I came to stand in front of it, one of the books caught my eye.

It was slightly out of place compared to the rest. Nothing overly noticeable, but definitely something that stuck out if you were looking hard enough.

The book seemed more box-like than the rest, the pages almost glued together.

Trusting my instinct, I pulled on the book, gasping and stepping back when the mechanism clicked behind the bookcase and the door popped open.

“What the fuck,” I whispered, hardly daring to believe I’d got so lucky. Or that my dad was so stupid. Both worked.

I poked my head inside, seeing row upon row of filing cabinets, boxes of paperwork, briefcases containing God knows what, and two huge safes I had never seen before.

Grabbing the first suitcase—mainly because my heart was beating too hard, and I was too scared to go any further into the secret room—I rushed back over to the desk, plopping back down in the seat.

Luca:Congratulations. You learned your father is a moron. Can you leave now, please?

“Keep a lookout,” I replied in a sing-song voice, hauling the suitcase onto the desk and clicking it open.

Only for my heart to immediately sink when I found nothing but a stack of papers waiting for me.

“For some reason I was hoping to find a gun and a note saying, ‘I’m secretly in the mob’. It would have made my night much easier.”

I glanced at the phone, but Luca hadn’t replied.