Later that evening, the mansion was dark, quiet, and filled with tense heavy air.
Lily slipped out of her bedroom softly, wearing her quiet rubber slippers.
She moved down the carpeted hallway toward her father's private study near the library.
She knew Victoria was sleeping in the guest wing across the massive house.
Lily opened the heavy oak door carefully, avoiding any loud creaks from the hinges.
The room smelled of old leather, paper documents, and her father's favorite soap.
She walked behind the big mahogany desk where her father worked every single day.
She remembered seeing him hide a golden key inside a hollow book last winter.
Lily reached up to the shelf and pulled out the thick leather dictionary book.
A small brass key fell out into her palm with a quiet metal clink.
She used the key to open the bottom drawer of the locked wooden cabinet.
Inside lay a thick blue folder marked with the words Family Trust and Estate Law.
Lily pulled the papers out and flipped through the neatly printed white pages.
Attached to the back was a handwritten letter written in her mother's neat script.
"To my daughter Lily, if anything ever happens to your father," the note read.
Lily's heart raced fast as she read the words by the dim desk light.
The letter stated that the entire estate belonged strictly to Lily upon her birth.
Arthur was only the temporary trustee, and Victoria had zero legal rights to anything.
Victoria had been hiding these papers so she could fake the ownership documents.
Suddenly, the bright overhead lights snapped on with a sudden, loud click.
Victoria stood in the doorway wearing a silk robe with her arms crossed tight.
"I knew you were a sneaky little girl like your mother," Victoria sneered meanly.
"These papers prove you are a liar!" Lily said, holding the folder tight.
Victoria walked quickly across the room to grab the blue folder from Lily's hands.
Lily dodged to the left and ran straight out into the grand hallway above.
"Give me those documents right now, Lily!" Victoria screamed, chasing after her.
Lily ran toward her father's bedroom door and banged on it with both fists.
"Daddy! Wake up! I found Mom's secret letter!" Lily shouted at the top of her lungs.
The bedroom door unlocked quickly, and Elena pulled Lily inside to safety.