Elena stood breathing heavily, her face tight with fear and mounting panic.
She looked around the hallway as if searching for a quick escape route.
Victoria stood tall, her hands resting firmly on her daughter's shaking shoulders.
Lily lifted a hand, her small finger pointing straight past the maid's shoulder.
Tears had cut clear tracks through the white powder covering her tiny cheeks.
Lily: Mom! She was trying to hide something in the safe!
Victoria turned her sharp gaze directly toward the wall behind the national flag.
The decorative painting had been swung open, revealing the heavy steel safe door.
Inside the dark metal box rested the mysterious thick brown paper envelope.
Victoria felt a cold knot form tightly in the pit of her stomach.
Only she and her late husband were ever supposed to know that combination.
Victoria: How did you get access to my private safe, Elena?
Elena: I did not open it, I promise you!
Victoria: You are standing right next to it with powder on your hands!
Victoria stepped past the terrified maid and reached into the open safe.
She pulled out the heavy brown envelope and checked the seal carefully.
It contained official legal documents bearing the red stamp of a law firm.
These were the confidential inheritance papers regarding the family's vast estate and trust fund.
Elena had not just been cleaning; she had been gathering sensitive legal files.
The truth behind the maid's sudden employment was finally beginning to unspool.