Chapter 3 - SEBASTIAN'S FATHER WAS THE LAST PERSON TO SEE HER
Sebastian watched the grainy garage footage three times.
His father opening the passenger door.
Isabella entering.
Car leaving.
Timestamp.
11:42 p.m.
That image changed seventeen years of family history.
“My father said she ran.”
“He lied.”
Sebastian’s voice was flat.
“Clearly.”
Norah expected rage.
What she saw was worse.
Grief becoming organized.
Dangerous.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“I find out what he did.”
“He’s dead.”
“That has never stopped the truth from being expensive.”
She closed the laptop.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
His eyes moved to her.
“You say that to everyone?”
“Only mafia bosses with unresolved parent issues.”
For a second, amusement broke through.
Then vanished.
Luca returned with old police paperwork.
Isabella’s missing-person case had been closed after eight months.
Reason:
Voluntary disappearance.
Supporting evidence included a handwritten note.
Sebastian read it.
I need a life away from all of you. Do not search for me.
Norah asked:
“Is that her handwriting?”
Sebastian looked again.
“Looks like it.”
“Looks like isn’t enough.”
Norah had restored antique inscriptions for museums.
She understood pressure patterns.
Stroke width.
Hesitation.
She asked for known samples.
Three hours later, she had a conclusion.
The note was traced.
Not written naturally.
Someone copied Isabella’s handwriting.
Sebastian’s face became stone.
“Who had access to samples?”
“Everyone in your family.”
“Wonderful.”
Then Norah turned to the necklace.
There was still something wrong with its weight.
Three grams.
Too much for a clasp repair.
Too little for random construction.
She removed the central ruby from the replica.
Sebastian watched.
Underneath was a cavity.
Inside it—
A thin metal strip.
Rolled tightly.
Norah froze.
“What?”
She used tweezers.
Unrolled it.
The strip held numbers.
Tiny.
Hand-etched.
Account codes.
Dates.
Initials.
Sebastian leaned closer.
“Read them.”
Norah scanned.
E.R.
I.M.
S.R.
Then:
Again.
Next to it:
L&M / 23:40 / VARGA.
She looked up.
“Your mother’s initials. Isabella’s. Your father’s.”
Sebastian stared at the strip.
“This isn’t jewelry.”
“No.”
“It’s storage.”
“Someone hid records inside the replica.”
Then Sebastian pointed to another line.
A name.
Julian Vale.
The manager at Laurent & Vale.
Norah felt cold.
Julian had pretended shock.
Pretended fear.
Pretended ignorance.
Yet his name was hidden inside a necklace built at least seventeen years earlier.
Sebastian called Luca.
“Bring Vale.”
Norah caught his wrist.
“No.”
His eyes dropped to her hand.
She released him.
“Talk to him. Don’t drag him into a basement.”
Sebastian said nothing.
“Sebastian.”
His expression shifted at the sound of his name.
“Fine.”
They went to Laurent & Vale before sunrise.
Julian was already there.
Packing.
A suitcase near his office.
Passport on the desk.
He looked at them and went white.
“You found it.”
Sebastian closed the door.
“Found what?”
Julian stared at Norah.
Then at the broken necklace.
“The ledger.”
Norah asked quietly:
“What happened to Elena Romano?”
Julian sat down.
“She found out the family jewelry vault was being used to move more than jewels.”
Sebastian stepped closer.
“What was being moved?”
Julian swallowed.
“Names.”
“What names?”
“Politicians. Judges. Police. Accountants. People your father owned.”
Then he looked at Sebastian.
“Your mother wanted out.”
“She was going to expose him.”
Sebastian’s voice barely carried.
Julian nodded.
“And Isabella agreed to help.”
May you like
That was the next secret.
Sebastian’s mother and aunt had been working together against Salvatore Romano before one died and the other disappeared.
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