Chapter 2 - The Necklace That Should Have Been Buried
My mother's necklace had been placed around her neck before the funeral.
I remembered it clearly.
I was fourteen, standing beside an open coffin, staring at a silver pendant shaped like a tiny rose.
Now that same pendant hung around Nora Reed's neck.
Twenty-three years later.
In my kitchen.
Around the neck of a woman who'd just made me eat my first real meal in six weeks.
"Where did you get that?" I whispered.
Nora instinctively covered the pendant.
"My grandmother gave it to me."
"That's impossible."
She frowned.
"Why?"
"Because that necklace belonged to my mother."
The kitchen fell silent.
Dominic stepped closer.
"Arthur, maybe you should sit down."
I ignored him.
I looked at Nora.
"Your grandmother's name was Evelyn Reed?"
"Yes."
"Did she ever work for the Vale family?"
Nora nodded slowly.
"She was a housekeeper."
My chest tightened.
"Twenty-three years ago?"
"Yes."
I gripped the edge of the table.
Evelyn had worked in our mansion when I was a teenager.
She was the only person besides my mother who treated me like a child instead of the future heir to a criminal empire.
Then she vanished.
My father claimed she'd stolen money.
He ordered everyone never to mention her again.
Nora looked uncomfortable.
"Mr. Vale, I don't know what happened between your families."
I stared at the necklace.
"My mother was wearing that when she died."
Nora shook her head.
"Grandma said your mother gave it to her."
I looked up.
"What?"
"Before she died."
My heart began pounding.
Nora reached into her pocket.
She removed a folded piece of paper.
"I've been carrying this since I started working here."
Dominic frowned.
"What is it?"
Nora looked directly at me.
"A letter."
"From whom?"
"Your mother."
For a moment, the room seemed to tilt.
My mother had been dead for twenty-three years.
Yet this woman was holding a letter she'd supposedly written.
Nora unfolded the paper carefully.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
My mother's elegant cursive.
My darling Arthur,
If Evelyn gives you this letter, it means the truth has finally found its way home.
My throat closed.
I couldn't speak.
Nora continued reading.
You must never believe what your father told you about the night I died.
I grabbed the table for support.
My father had told me she'd been killed during a robbery.
I'd spent my entire adult life hunting the people he blamed.
May you like
Then Nora read the final sentence.
Arthur, the man who ordered my death was your father.
