Chapter 8 - The Locket
I stared at my empty palm.
“No.”
Victor immediately grabbed my shoulder.
“Stay with me.”
“My father gave me that.”
“I know.”
Dmitri searched the room.
Nothing.
Then we heard footsteps above us.
Someone was running.
Victor ordered the guards upstairs.
We followed.
The footsteps stopped near the ballroom.
A door slammed.
Victor opened it.
Nobody was there.
Then I saw something on the floor.
A broken piece of silver.
Part of my locket.
I picked it up.
Inside was a tiny compartment.
Empty.
Victor examined it.
“Whatever was inside is gone.”
I closed my eyes.
My father had given me that locket on my sixteenth birthday.
He had said only one thing.
“Never give this to anyone.”
I had forgotten.
Or maybe I had been too young to understand.
Victor looked at me.
“Your father knew this day would come.”
I nodded.
Then Daniel appeared.
He was holding the old photograph.
“Lena.”
I turned.
He pointed to the background.
There was a symbol on the wall behind our father.
A small golden bird.
Victor stared.
“That symbol.”
“What?”
“My father's private archive.”
Dmitri looked at him.
“Where?”
Victor answered.
“Below the old headquarters.”
We went there before dawn.
The building had been abandoned for years.
Behind a false wall, Victor found a hidden staircase.
At the bottom was a room filled with boxes.
My father's handwriting appeared everywhere.
Victor opened one box.
Inside were documents.
Contracts.
Bank records.
Photographs.
And a recording device.
He pressed play.
My father's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, then I was right.”
I covered my mouth.
His voice continued.
“Victor, you must understand. The person closest to you is not the person you should fear.”
Victor looked at me.
My father's voice continued.
“The real danger is the person who has been protecting the person who betrayed you.”
The recording stopped.
Silence.
Victor stared at the device.
Dmitri said:
“Someone erased the rest.”
I looked at the documents.
One page had been marked.
There was a name.
Evelyn Park.
Victor frowned.
“Evelyn.”
“She helped us.”
“Or she wanted us to believe she did.”
Then the room door closed.
We turned.
Evelyn stood there.
She looked exhausted.
Victor stepped forward.
“You knew.”
She nodded.
“I knew enough.”
“Where is the locket?”
Evelyn looked at me.
“Clara has it.”
“Where?”
“She took it to the hotel.”
Victor moved closer.
“Why?”
Evelyn's voice dropped.
“Because the thing inside that locket isn't the ownership agreement.”
I stared at her.
“Then what is it?”
Evelyn looked at Victor.
“It is proof of who ordered your father's death.”
Victor went silent.
May you like
Then Evelyn added:
“And the person who ordered it is standing inside this building.”
