Chapter 1 - The Yellow Diary in Ellie’s Hands
Mateo stepped into the upstairs hallway and stopped.
Ellie was huddled against the cream-colored wall outside her room, both knees pulled close, her pale pink pajamas wrinkled around her legs.
She was trembling.
A yellow diary was pressed tightly against her chest.
Tears ran down her cheeks.
Mateo crossed the polished wooden floor immediately and dropped to one knee in front of her.
“Ellie… what happened?”
His daughter looked up.
Her mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Her frightened eyes shifted past him.
Footsteps sounded farther down the hallway.
Celeste appeared first.
Nora followed a few paces behind, holding ten-month-old Owen securely against her chest.
Celeste’s expression was composed, almost sympathetic.
“She’s just upset, Mateo.”
She reached toward Ellie.
Ellie reacted violently.
Her small hand knocked Celeste’s away.
“No!”
She scrambled backward and rushed behind Mateo.
Mateo rose immediately, placing his body between them.
Ellie pushed the yellow diary into his hands.
“Dad… read it.”
Celeste froze.
Her eyes locked onto the book.
The calm disappeared from her face.
“How did you get that book?!”
She lunged toward Ellie.
Mateo moved instantly.
His open palm struck once across Celeste’s face.
SMACK!
Celeste reeled sideways and crashed into the small hallway cabinet.
The flower vase toppled.
It hit the wooden floor and shattered.
Owen startled in Nora’s arms, but Nora immediately turned his face against her shoulder and held him securely.
Mateo did not touch Celeste again.
He opened the yellow diary.
The first pages made his brow tighten.
Then he turned another.
His expression changed completely.
Shock.
Disbelief.
Then something colder.
He flipped backward, checking a date.
Forward again.
His eyes stopped on one page.
His fingers tightened around the diary.
Ellie clung to the back of his black jacket.
Celeste slowly straightened beside the cabinet.
The color drained from her face.
The diary contained something connected to Ellie’s missing mother.
And something else.
Something about Owen.
Something Mateo clearly had never been told.
Then the doorbell rang downstairs.
Once.
Hard.
Everyone froze.
Mateo slowly raised his eyes from the diary toward the far end of the hallway, where the mansion’s main entrance could be seen below.
Ellie tightened both arms around him.
Celeste stared toward the door.
Nora’s face changed too.
Owen remained safely against her chest.
The bell rang again.
Mateo looked at Celeste.
She was no longer angry.
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She looked terrified.
And that told him whoever was standing downstairs was connected to at least one of the secrets inside the yellow diary.
