Chapter 2: The Warning
Nobody answered.
The silence stretched so long that I could hear the refrigerator humming from the kitchen.
Vanessa stood three feet away from me, breathing hard.
Marcus looked from her to the will.
“Alicia,” he said quietly, “what does that mean?””
I kept my eyes on Vanessa.
“You tell me.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“I don't know.””
“You just tried to grab the document.””
“I panicked.””
“You recognized your own name.””
“I recognized my name because you said it.””
“No.””
I lifted the page.
“You recognized the handwriting.””
Her face tightened.
Marcus stepped toward her.
“Vanessa, what is she talking about?””
Vanessa snapped her head toward him.
“I don't know what she wants me to say.””
“The truth would be a good start,” I said.
She looked at me.
For the first time, I noticed something beneath her polished confidence.
Fear.
Not fear of me.
Fear of the paper in my hand.
Marcus reached for the will.
“Let me see it.””
I pulled it back.
“No.””
“It's my house too.””
“Not for much longer.””
His jaw tightened.
“You don't understand what's happening.””
I laughed once.
It wasn't funny.
“My husband walks into my living room with another woman five weeks after our daughter is born, asks me for a divorce, and she happens to be wearing my grandmother's emerald ring.””
I pointed at Vanessa.
“Then my grandmother's twenty-year-old will has her name in it and specifically warns me not to trust her.””
My voice dropped.
“I understand exactly enough.””
Marcus stared at the floor.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“You're making assumptions.””
“Then correct me.””
“I can't.””
“Why?””
Vanessa said nothing.
I stepped closer.
“Where did you get the ring?””
She glanced at Marcus.
He immediately noticed.
“Vanessa?””
She touched the emerald.
“Marcus gave it to me.””
Marcus's head jerked up.
“I did not.””
“You said it was yours to give.””
“I said I found it.””
“Where?””
“In my mother's things.””
Vanessa's expression changed.
“Your mother?””
Marcus nodded.
“She gave it to me years ago.””
I stared at him.
“My grandmother's ring was never in your mother's things.””
“You don't know everything your grandmother owned.””
“I knew her.””
Marcus looked away.
I placed the will on the table.
“Then let's find out.””
He frowned.
“What?””
I picked up the framed photograph from the bookshelf.
My grandmother stood in the center, younger than I remembered her, wearing the same emerald ring.
Beside her stood three women.
My mother.
My aunt.
And a girl.
The photograph was old and slightly faded.
I had seen it hundreds of times.
But now I looked at the girl.
She had a narrow face, braided hair, and one hand resting against my grandmother's shoulder.
I turned the photograph toward Vanessa.
“Who is she?””
Vanessa's eyes widened.
“I don't know.””
Marcus came closer.
“Let me see.””
I handed him the photograph.
He stared at it.
His brow furrowed.
“Where did you get this?””
“It was in the frame.””
“No. I mean when was it taken?””
“About twenty years ago.””
Vanessa looked away.
I noticed.
“You recognize her.””
“No.””
“Vanessa.””
“I said no.””
My newborn daughter began crying upstairs.
The sound cut through the room.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
I looked toward the ceiling.
Marcus instinctively moved toward the stairs.
I held up my hand.
“Don't.””
He stopped.
“I'll get her.””
“I said don't.””
His expression hardened.
“Alicia, she's my daughter.””
“She is.””
I watched him stand there.
Then I looked at Vanessa.
“And you're here.””
Vanessa's voice softened.
“I didn't come here to hurt your baby.””
“I didn't ask what you came here to do.””
Her lips pressed together.
I walked toward the stairs.
Behind me, Marcus said, “Alicia, wait.””
I stopped.
He sounded different now.
Less angry.
More afraid.
“I think you should read the whole thing.””
I turned.
“The whole will?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Marcus glanced at Vanessa.
She shook her head.
“Marcus, don't.””
He ignored her.
“Because there may be something in there that explains why her name is on it.””
Vanessa stared at him.
“You promised.””
My hand tightened around the banister.
“You promised what?””
Marcus went silent.
Vanessa whispered, “Nothing.””
I slowly walked back to the coffee table.
“Interesting.””
I picked up the will.
The paper was brittle beneath my fingertips.
I turned to the first page again.
There was a paragraph I hadn't read carefully.
A paragraph about inheritance.
About a condition.
About something my grandmother had apparently left behind.
Then, at the bottom of the page, was a handwritten note in blue ink.
I recognized the handwriting immediately.
My grandmother had written:
*The emerald must never leave the family.*
I looked at Vanessa's hand.
She instinctively covered the ring.
My pulse quickened.
“You didn't steal it,” I said.
Vanessa said nothing.
“You were given it.””
Her eyes flickered.
Marcus whispered, “Alicia…”
I looked at him.
“Did you know about this?””
“No.””
“Did you know Vanessa was connected to my grandmother?””
He hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
“You did.””
Marcus's shoulders dropped.
“I knew there was a connection.””
Vanessa turned sharply.
“You said you didn't know.””
“I didn't know all of it.””
“All of what?””
He didn't answer.
I stepped toward him.
“Marcus.””
He looked at me.
“What did you find?””
He opened his mouth.
Before he could speak, something fell from Vanessa's suitcase.
A small envelope slid across the floor.
It stopped against my shoe.
Vanessa went completely still.
I bent down.
There was no name on the front.
Only one sentence.
Written in the same blue ink as my grandmother's warning.
*Give this to Alicia when she is alone.*
I looked up.
Vanessa whispered, “Don't open that.””
I broke the seal.
Inside was a photograph.
May you like
And on the back, written in my grandmother's handwriting, were six words that made Marcus take a step backward.
*Your husband is not the betrayer.*
