Chapter 4 - THE RECIPE BOOK
Marlo returned to her apartment that night and opened Ruth's recipe book.
She had avoided it for months.
The pages smelled faintly of cinnamon and old paper.
Every recipe carried memories.
Apple turnovers.
Honey bread.
Orange-glazed rolls.
Her mother's handwriting filled the margins.
Less sugar in summer.
Mrs. Delgado prefers extra cinnamon.
Marlo likes these warm.
Marlo smiled through tears.
Then she noticed something strange.
On the final page, Ruth had written a recipe for lemon cake.
But the measurements made no sense.
Fourteen cups of flour.
Seven tablespoons of salt.
Twenty-three eggs.
Marlo frowned.
Her mother had never made mistakes like that.
She read the numbers again.
14\.
7\.
23\.
Then she noticed the first letters of the ingredients.
L.
A.
S.
V.
E.
G.
A.
S.
Marlo sat upright.
A code.
Her mother had hidden something in the recipe book.
Gabriel helped her decode the message.
The numbers referred to page, line, and word positions in an old cookbook Ruth had owned.
They found the cookbook in a storage box.
After an hour, the message appeared.
THE HOUSE WITH BLUE WINDOWS. ASK FOR ELISE.
Marlo stared.
“Elise?”
Gabriel frowned.
“Could be a person.”
“Or a place.”
He nodded.
“Do you remember any house with blue windows?”
Marlo thought.
Then suddenly remembered.
A photograph she'd taken years earlier.
A small white house on the outskirts of Henderson.
Bright blue window frames.
A garden filled with sunflowers.
She searched her old photo archive.
Found it.
The house was still there.
And in the background stood a woman.
Dark hair.
A long dress.
A scarf covering her neck.
Marlo enlarged the image.
The woman's face was turned away.
But on her hand was a silver ring.
The same ring from the photograph.
Celeste.
The next morning, Marlo drove to Henderson.
The house stood at the end of a quiet street.
The blue windows had faded.
The garden was overgrown.
She knocked.
An elderly woman answered.
“Can I help you?”
“I'm looking for Elise.”
The woman's expression changed.
“Who sent you?”
“Ruth Kent.”
The woman stared.
Then whispered:
“Ruth is dead.”
Marlo nodded.
“She was my mother.”
The woman covered her mouth.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
She stepped aside.
“Come in.”
Elise Morgan had been a nurse.
Years earlier, she'd worked for a private medical facility used by the Voss family.
She'd met Celeste there.
And she'd helped her escape.
“Your mother brought her to me,” Elise said.
Marlo stared.
“Why didn't Mom tell me?”
“She was protecting you.”
“From Sterling?”
Elise shook her head.
“From his father.”
Marlo frowned.
“But his father died seven years ago.”
Elise looked down.
“His influence didn't.”
She explained that Victor Voss had spent decades controlling the family.
Celeste was hidden because her appearance didn't fit the image he wanted.
Sterling was raised to inherit the empire.
Celeste was raised to disappear.
When she resisted, Victor arranged the fake boating accident.
The world mourned a woman who was still alive.
“Your mother helped Celeste leave,” Elise said.
Marlo swallowed.
“Where did she go?”
Elise hesitated.
“She changed her name.”
“To what?”
Elise looked toward the window.
“Anna Mercer.”
Marlo repeated the name.
“Anna Mercer.”
Elise nodded.
“She became a photographer.”
Marlo's heart skipped.
“A photographer?”
“Yes.”
“She wanted to show people what the world looked like through her eyes.”
Marlo smiled sadly.
“That sounds like someone my mother would love.”
Elise reached into a drawer.
Removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Celeste stood beside a camera.
Her face was bare.
The patches on her skin were visible.
She was smiling.
For the first time, she looked free.
Marlo began crying.
Elise touched her hand.
“Your mother wanted you to see this.”
Before Marlo left, Elise gave her one more thing.
A letter.
Written by Celeste.
Addressed to Ruth.
Marlo opened it carefully.
Ruth, you gave me a place where nobody asked me to hide. You let me sit in your bakery without makeup. You treated me like a person. I will never forget that.
Marlo's vision blurred.
She read the next line.
If anything happens to you, I promise I will tell the world what they did.
Marlo looked up.
“Elise, where is Anna Mercer now?”
The older woman hesitated.
Then said:
“She's preparing an exhibition.”
“Where?”
Elise swallowed.
“At the Voss Grand.”
Marlo stared.
Sterling's flagship hotel.
May you like
The same empire that had destroyed Ruth.
And Celeste was going back.
