She Sold Paintings on the Street to Survive — Until the Wealthy Merchant’s Offer Shocked Everyone!
Chapter 8
Clara returned to Ashford House with the ledger.
She studied the portrait of Edmund Blackwell for hours.
Then she noticed something strange.
A thin line crossed the man’s coat.
It had not been painted.
It was a crack in the varnish.
She touched it.
The surface lifted.
Beneath the portrait was another layer.
A map.
A map of the river.
Marked with red dots.
Warehouses.
Mills.
Farms.
And one large circle around Ashford House.
Nathaniel stared.
“They planned to take everything.”
Clara looked closer.
A small mark appeared near the river.
Mill Nine.
They went there that night.
The mill had been abandoned for years.
Inside, they found old machinery covered in dust.
Behind one wall was a hidden room.
There were crates.
Letters.
And a sealed wooden box.
Nathaniel opened it.
Inside was Samuel’s final journal.
Clara could barely breathe.
She read the first page.
If Clara ever finds this, I failed to protect her.
Tears filled her eyes.
The journal explained everything.
Samuel had discovered that Thomas Ashford was secretly buying land through false debts.
Families unable to repay loans were losing farms.
Their grain was then bought cheaply and sold at inflated prices.
The profits were divided among the conspirators.
Samuel had collected proof.
But he knew he would be killed.
So he painted the evidence into portraits.
Every portrait contained hidden marks, names, or maps.
The paintings were impossible to destroy without revealing the truth.
On the final page, Samuel wrote:
Nathaniel is not part of this. Protect him.
Clara looked at Nathaniel.
“He knew.”
Nathaniel’s eyes were wet.
“He knew I was innocent.”
There was one more page.
The final account is kept beneath the old clock tower.
Nathaniel folded the journal.
“We go tomorrow.”
But someone had followed them.
Outside the mill, a horse shifted in the darkness.
Clara heard it.
She turned.
A gunshot struck the wooden wall.
Nathaniel pulled her down.
Another shot followed.
Three riders appeared.
Clara grabbed the journal.
They ran through the rear door.
Nathaniel fired once.
The riders fled.
But one man shouted:
“You cannot hide forever!”
Clara looked at Nathaniel.
“Who was that?”
“Bell.”
She held the journal against her chest.
“Then tomorrow we finish this.”
