Chapter 4: The Missing Words
Alicia stared at the final line until the letters blurred.
*IF MARCUS EVER COMES INTO YOUR LIFE, DO NOT—*
The sentence ended there.
No signature.
No explanation.
No final word.
Just a dash.
Alicia slowly lowered the paper.
Marcus looked terrified.
Vanessa wouldn't look at either of them.
“What happened to the rest?”” Alicia asked.
Vanessa shook her head.
“That’s all I have.””
“No.””
Alicia held the paper up.
“This was torn.””
“Yes.””
“Who tore it?””
“I don't know.””
Alicia looked at Marcus.
“Did you?””
Marcus's mouth opened.
Then closed.
Vanessa answered for him.
“No.””
Alicia's eyes narrowed.
“You sound very sure.””
“I am.””
“Then tell me what your grandmother told you.””
Vanessa wrapped both hands around the edge of the suitcase.
“She told me never to come here.””
Alicia froze.
“But you came.””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
Vanessa looked toward the family photographs.
“Because I thought she was wrong.””
Marcus whispered, “Vanessa, stop.””
Vanessa turned on him.
“You've been telling me to stop for years.””
“Because you don't understand what you're doing.””
“I understand exactly what I'm doing.””
“No, you don't.””
Alicia stepped between them.
“Enough.””
Both went silent.
Alicia placed the paper beside the old will.
Two documents.
Two warnings.
Both written by the same woman.
Both mentioning Vanessa.
And Marcus.
She looked at the date on Vanessa's paper.
Twenty years ago.
Then she noticed something else.
A faint indentation ran across the bottom edge.
As if another sheet had once been attached beneath it.
Alicia ran her fingertip over the mark.
“There was another page.””
Vanessa's face tightened.
“I don't know.””
“You keep saying that.””
“Because it's true.””
Alicia walked toward the bookshelf.
She began removing family albums one by one.
Marcus followed.
“Alicia, please.””
“Stay where you are.””
“I’m trying to protect you.””
She turned.
“From what?””
Marcus stopped.
Alicia waited.
“From Vanessa?””
He said nothing.
“From my grandmother?””
Nothing.
“Or from whatever happened twenty years ago?””
Marcus looked away.
Alicia's voice softened.
“Marcus, you knew my grandmother before you knew me.””
“Yes.””
“You met Vanessa when she was eleven.””
“Yes.””
“You knew she had another last name.””
His silence answered.
“And you knew about this.””
Alicia pointed to the will.
Marcus finally whispered, “I knew there was a will.””
“You knew she named Vanessa.””
“Yes.””
Alicia's face hardened.
“Why did you marry me?””
Marcus flinched.
“That isn't fair.””
“Why?””
“Because I loved you.””
“Did you?””
“Yes.””
“Then why did you hide all of this?””
Marcus looked at the floor.
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of what?””
He didn't answer.
Vanessa suddenly said, “Because your grandmother made him promise.””
Alicia turned.
“Promise what?””
Vanessa swallowed.
“Never to tell you.””
Alicia stared at Marcus.
“Is that true?””
Marcus nodded once.
“She made me promise.””
“When?””
“When I was fourteen.””
“Why would she make a fourteen-year-old promise?””
Marcus's eyes filled with tears.
“Because I knew something.””
“What?””
He shook his head.
“I can't.””
Alicia's voice became dangerously quiet.
“You've been saying that all night.””
“I know.””
“Then maybe I'll find it myself.””
She turned back to the bookshelf.
Behind a row of books was a shallow compartment she had never noticed.
Alicia pressed her palm against the wood.
It clicked.
Marcus stepped forward.
“Alicia—”
The panel opened.
Inside was a small black envelope.
No dust.
It looked recently disturbed.
Alicia pulled it out.
Her name was written across the front.
*ALICIA.*
Vanessa whispered, “Oh no.””
Alicia looked at her.
“You know this envelope?””
Vanessa shook her head.
“No.””
“Then why did you say that?””
“I didn't.””
“You did.””
Vanessa's breathing quickened.
Alicia opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Old.
Faded.
A young Black teenage boy stood beside Alicia's grandmother.
Marcus.
Alicia stared.
He was fourteen.
Beside him stood a little Black girl.
Eleven years old.
Vanessa.
But there was someone else in the photograph.
Someone Alicia had never seen before.
A woman standing behind them.
Her hand rested on Marcus's shoulder.
Alicia lifted the photograph closer to the light.
On the back was a date.
And beneath it, one sentence.
*THE BOY KNOWS WHERE THE EMERALD CAME FROM.*
Alicia slowly turned toward Marcus.
“You knew.””
Marcus's face collapsed.
Vanessa stepped backward.
Alicia raised the photograph.
“Where did my grandmother get the emerald?””
Marcus stared at the ring.
His lips trembled.
Then he said the one thing Alicia wasn't prepared to hear.
“She didn't get it.””
May you like
He looked directly at Vanessa.
“She took it.””
