A car engine started outside.
Within seconds, the vehicle disappeared into the snowy street.
Olivia looked down at the photograph again.
There was something written on the back.
A short message in Daniel's handwriting.
If Richard ever gives you this picture, don't believe anything he tells you. Find the blue room. The truth is waiting where our story began.
Olivia read it twice.
Then she turned toward Margaret.
"What's the blue room?"
Margaret's expression changed.
It was not confusion.
It was recognition.
And fear.
"The old house," she whispered.
"What old house?"
Margaret slowly sat down.
"The house where Daniel grew up. The house we sold after his father died."
Thomas frowned.
"I thought it was demolished."
"So did I."
Margaret looked at the photograph.
"But Daniel told me something shortly before his death. He said there was one room in that house nobody had ever been allowed to enter."
Olivia moved closer.
"What was inside?"
Margaret looked at her.
"I never knew."
Then she added:
"But I remember Daniel telling me that his father had built it himself."
The following morning, Christmas Day arrived without the warmth Olivia had expected.
The snow had stopped falling, but the roads remained covered in white. The neighborhood was quiet, and the houses glowed with colorful decorations.
Inside the Whitmore home, nobody had slept.
Thomas spent most of the night examining the documents. Olivia sat beside the fireplace, holding Daniel's photograph. Margaret remained in her bedroom for several hours before finally joining them downstairs.
At eight o'clock, Thomas placed his laptop on the dining table.
"I found something."
Olivia immediately stood.
"What?"
"An old property record."
He turned the screen toward her.
The document showed the address of Daniel's childhood home.
The property had officially been sold twenty-four years earlier.
But there was something strange.
A small building at the back of the property had never been included in the sale.
"Look here," Thomas said.
He pointed toward a line near the bottom.
"There's a separate structure listed as a private storage facility. The ownership was transferred to a company registered under Daniel's name."
Olivia frowned.
"When?"
"Four months before he died."
Margaret slowly approached the table.
"That means he went back there."
Thomas nodded.
"And if the blue room still exists, it might be inside that building."
Olivia looked toward the window.
"We need to go."
Margaret immediately shook her head.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because that place holds too many memories."
"Margaret, please. Daniel left us a message. He wanted us to find something."
The older woman looked at the photograph.
"I know."
"Then help me."
Margaret's eyes filled with tears.
For a moment, she seemed to be fighting an internal battle.
Finally, she nodded.
"All right."
Thomas collected the documents.
"We'll leave in twenty minutes."
But before they could prepare, Olivia's phone rang.
The number was unknown.
She answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice spoke quietly.
"Mrs. Whitmore?"
"Yes. Who is this?"
"My name is Samuel Reed. I was your husband's attorney."
Olivia immediately sat down.
"Daniel's attorney?"
"Yes. I have been trying to reach you for several weeks."
"Why?"
There was a brief silence.
"Because Daniel left instructions that I was not allowed to contact you until someone delivered a specific photograph."
Olivia looked at the picture in her hand.
"Which photograph?"
"The one showing Daniel and Richard together."
Her heart began pounding.
"How do you know about that?"
"Because I gave it to Richard myself."
Olivia stood.
"You did what?"
"I had no choice. Richard threatened to expose information that could have destroyed Daniel's company. I was afraid."
"Why would you give him something Daniel left behind?"
"Because I believed it was the only way to protect my family."
Olivia's voice became cold.
"What exactly are you trying to tell me?"
Samuel took a deep breath.
"Your husband left a second will."
Olivia looked toward Thomas.
He stopped moving.
"A second will?" she repeated.
"Yes. It was signed and witnessed six days before his death. It contains instructions concerning his business, the house, and a substantial amount of money."
Olivia felt dizzy.
"Why haven't I heard about this before?"
"Because the original document disappeared shortly after Daniel's funeral."
Margaret closed her eyes.
Samuel continued.
"But I made a copy. And I believe Richard knows that."
Olivia tightened her grip on the phone.
"Can we meet?"
"Not at my office."
"Why?"
"Because someone has been watching the building."
Thomas stepped closer.
"Where should we meet?"
Samuel gave them an address.
An old café on the outskirts of town.
Then he said something that made Olivia's blood run cold.
"Mrs. Whitmore, there is one more thing you need to know."
"What?"
"Daniel did not leave you his entire fortune."
Olivia frowned.
"I never expected him to."
"No, you don't understand. He left most of it to someone whose identity has never been disclosed."
Olivia looked at Margaret.
"Who?"
Samuel hesitated.
Then he answered.
"His mother."
Margaret's eyes widened.
Olivia slowly lowered the phone.
For three years, she had believed Margaret was fighting to control Daniel's inheritance.
Now she was discovering that Daniel had deliberately placed his greatest fortune in his mother's hands.
But why?
And what had he been trying to protect?
At ten o'clock, the three of them left the house.
Thomas drove.
Margaret sat in the back seat, holding Daniel's photograph in both hands. Olivia sat beside the driver, staring at the road.
The old property was nearly an hour away.
As they passed through the countryside, Olivia remembered the stories Daniel had told her about his childhood.
He had grown up in a small house with a beautiful garden.
His father, William, had been a carpenter who built furniture by hand. He loved working with wood, and Daniel often described how he would spend entire afternoons watching his father transform ordinary pieces of timber into something beautiful.
But Daniel rarely spoke about the final years of his father's life.
William had died when Daniel was seventeen.
The family had struggled financially afterward, and Margaret eventually sold the house.