Chapter 310: [4.128] We’re Going Treasure Hunting

Nobody corrected her language.

"The question is what we do with this information," Vivienne said. She had recovered some of her composure, her mind clearly racing through options and outcomes. "If we go public, Mother will deny everything. She’ll have lawyers. Evidence of her own. The original will was filed with the estate attorneys—she’ll claim this letter is the forgery."

"So we get more proof."

They all turned to look at Harlow.

She stood straighter now, her shoulders squared, something fierce burning behind her red-rimmed eyes. This was the Harlow that Cassidy sometimes glimpsed in moments of crisis. The one who had held their father’s hand when he died. The one who had kept them all together when everything else fell apart.

"Father was smart," Harlow said. "Smarter than Mother ever gave him credit for. If he knew she might try to change his will, he wouldn’t have left just one letter. He would have left copies. Evidence. Something she couldn’t touch."

"The Japanese wing," Sabrina said.

Cassidy’s head snapped toward her sister. "What?"

"Father’s private collection. The room he kept locked, even from Mother. I always thought it was just art and artifacts, but—" Sabrina paused, her eyes going distant. "Before he died. He gave me a key. Told me to wait until I was ready. Until I needed to know."

"You have a key to a secret room and you never told us?"

"I was waiting."

"For what?"

"For this." Sabrina’s gaze swept across her sisters, landing on each of them in turn. "For the moment when we were ready to fight back. When we were willing to risk everything. When we finally had something worth protecting."

Her eyes moved to the door.

To Isaiah, who stood in the doorway with his hand still raised to knock.

Cassidy hadn’t heard him arrive. Too focused on her sisters and the letter and the impending war with their mother. But there he was, his two-toned hair falling across his forehead, his uniform rumpled and askew, his dark eyes taking in the scene with the sharp attention of someone who had walked into a battlefield without a map.

"Bad time?" he asked.

Cassidy crossed the room in three strides and grabbed his arm.

"Perfect time," she said. "We’re going treasure hunting."

She pulled him into the room and slammed the door behind him.

Isaiah stumbled slightly, caught off guard by Cassidy’s grip. She didn’t let go. Couldn’t, really. Her fingers wrapped around his forearm like anchors, keeping her grounded when everything else threatened to spin out of control.

He looked at her. Really looked, the way he always did, like he could see past the aggression and the attitude and the carefully constructed walls she’d built around herself.

"What happened?"

"Mother’s a lying snake who forged Father’s will and turned us against each other for years."

Isaiah blinked. "That’s a lot to unpack."

"We don’t have time to unpack. We have time to move."

Vivienne stepped forward, her tablet somehow back in her hands, her fingers already flying across the screen. "I’m canceling all of Mother’s access to the manor security systems. Changing the codes. Locking down the east wing."

"She’ll notice," Sabrina said.

"Good. Let her." Vivienne’s voice had gone sharp, her usual composure cracking to reveal something harder underneath. "She wants a war? She can have one. But we’re not going to make it easy."

Cassidy felt a surge of something unfamiliar. Pride, maybe. Or hope. Watching Vivienne finally stop trying to be perfect and start trying to fight back.

"Harlow," Cassidy said. "You’re with me and Isaiah. We’re going to the Japanese wing."

"And me?" Sabrina asked.

Cassidy met her sister’s eyes. Sabrina was pale, her hands still trembling around the letter, but her expression had shifted. The fear was still there, but something else had joined it. Resolve.

"You’re going to call a family meeting."

"Mother won’t come."

"She will when she finds out what we’re planning to do with Father’s letter." Cassidy smiled, and it was the kind of smile that made people nervous. "Tell her we’re going public tomorrow. Tell her we’re giving everything to the press unless she shows up to negotiate. Tell her—"

"That we’re not afraid of her anymore," Harlow finished.

The four sisters looked at each other.

For a moment, just a moment, Cassidy could see them as they used to be. Before their father died. Before their mother turned cold. Before they learned to compete instead of cooperate. Four girls who shared a face and a birthday and a bond that no amount of manipulation could completely destroy.

"Together," Sabrina said.

"Together," Vivienne agreed.

"Together!" Harlow added, her voice stronger now.

Cassidy nodded once. "Let’s burn this bitch’s empire to the ground."

She turned and headed for the door, Isaiah’s arm still in her grip. The Japanese wing was on the other side of the manor, past the main gallery and the formal dining room and the corridor where their mother’s portrait hung in a gilded frame. Cassidy had avoided that hallway for years. Couldn’t stand looking at the painting, couldn’t stand the way Camille’s eyes seemed to follow her no matter where she walked.

Today she was going to walk right past it.

Today she was going to stop being afraid.

Isaiah kept pace beside her, his longer legs easily matching her aggressive stride. He didn’t ask questions. Didn’t demand explanations. Just moved with her, trusting her to know where they were going and why.

Cassidy appreciated that more than she could say.

They turned down the corridor that led to the east wing. The walls here were older, the paintings darker, the air heavier with the weight of generations. This part of the manor had always felt different to Cassidy. More real, somehow. Like the ghosts of dead Valentines lingered in the shadows, watching and judging and waiting.

Harlow caught up to them at the turn, slightly out of breath but determined. Her twin tails bounced with each step, her pink clips catching the light from the chandeliers overhead.

"Do you know where the door is?" she asked.

"Sabrina gave me directions." Cassidy pulled out her phone and glanced at the text. "Third corridor on the left. Behind the silk screen with the cherry blossoms."