The Inheritance of Aster Hall and the Fall of the Ashford Empire
I found the place where I had been interrupted, my eyes tracking the faded black ink.
*…Inside the lining of the bodice, sewn between the silk and the bone, is the true key to your future,* the letter read.
*Harrison and his mother believe the estate is secured by the deeds in the family safe.*
*They do not know that those deeds are copies I created to satisfy their greed.*
*The genuine, unamended deeds of Aster Hall are hidden in a secure vault beneath the grand ballroom.*
I stopped reading, my breath catching in my throat as I looked at Matteo.
“A vault beneath the ballroom?” I whispered.
“I never knew there was anything under those floors.”
“The old foundations,” Matteo said, his eyes wide.
“The original house was built over a stone cellar from the seventeenth century.”
“But how do we get in?” I asked, looking back down at the paper.
My eyes scanned the next paragraph.
*The vault can only be opened with the brass key and the combination seal hidden in the lining of the Celestia gown,* the letter continued.