Chapter 5: What She Took
Alicia couldn't move.
“What did you just say?””
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa's eyes widened.
“You promised.””
“I can't keep doing this.””
“You promised me!””
Alicia slammed the photograph onto the coffee table.
“Both of you, stop.””
Marcus took a breath.
“My grandmother didn't steal the emerald,” he said.
Alicia stared at him.
“You just said she took it.””
“I said she took it.””
“From whom?””
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
Vanessa shook her head.
“Don't.””
Alicia's voice rose.
“From whom?””
Marcus whispered, “Vanessa's family.””
Alicia looked at the emerald ring.
Then at Vanessa.
“You said it was given to you.””
Vanessa's eyes filled again.
“It was.””
“By your grandmother?””
“Yes.””
“Then why does Marcus say my grandmother took it?””
“Because he doesn't know everything.””
Marcus snapped, “Neither do you.””
Vanessa stepped toward him.
“I know enough.””
“You were eleven.””
“And you were fourteen.””
“You don't remember.””
“I remember her.””
Alicia froze.
“Her who?””
Vanessa looked at the photograph.
“Your grandmother.””
Alicia's stomach tightened.
“You said you never met her.””
Vanessa closed her eyes.
“I lied.””
Alicia stared at her.
“Why?””
“Because I was afraid.””
“Of my grandmother?””
“Of what she knew.””
Alicia picked up the old will.
“My grandmother knew your name twenty years ago.””
Vanessa nodded.
“Yes.””
“She warned me about you.””
“Yes.””
“She warned me about Marcus.””
“Yes.””
“And you still came here.””
Vanessa looked toward the door.
“I came because I thought the truth was finally safe.””
Alicia frowned.
“Safe from what?””
Vanessa reached for the emerald.
Her fingers touched the stone.
“This.””
Alicia watched her.
“What is so important about a ring?””
Vanessa slowly removed it.
Without the emerald catching the light, her hand looked strangely bare.
“This isn't jewelry.””
“Then what is it?””
“A key.””
Marcus shook his head.
“No.””
Vanessa looked at him.
“You knew.””
“I knew what she told me.””
“She told you enough.””
Alicia grabbed the wooden box.
“A key to what?””
Vanessa stared at the box.
“I don't know.””
Alicia's eyes narrowed.
“Then why are you scared of it?””
“Because your grandmother was.””
Alicia looked at the brass key from the box.
The engraved letter V.
She held it beside the emerald.
Nothing happened.
Marcus suddenly stepped forward.
“Put the key away.””
Alicia turned.
“Why?””
“Because that box should never have been opened.””
“You said you didn't know what it was.””
“I didn't.””
“But now you're telling me to close it.””
Marcus swallowed.
“I remember.””
“What?””
“The night your grandmother gave me that box.””
Alicia went still.
“You had this box twenty years ago?””
Marcus nodded.
“She gave it to me.””
“Why?””
“She told me to hide it.””
“Where?””
Marcus looked around the room.
“Here.””
Alicia stared at the wooden box.
“You hid it in my grandmother's house?””
“Yes.””
“Why?””
“Because she told me Vanessa would eventually come looking for it.””
Vanessa's expression changed.
“You knew she was coming?””
“No.””
“You knew someone was coming.””
Marcus looked at Alicia.
“I didn't know who.””
Alicia's fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
“Then why did you marry me?””
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I didn't know you were her granddaughter.””
Alicia stared.
“What?””
“I knew your last name. I knew your family. But I didn't know who your grandmother was until after we met.””
Vanessa whispered, “That's not what you told me.””
Marcus looked at her.
“I was trying to protect her.””
“By marrying her?””
“No.””
“Then what were you doing?””
Marcus couldn't answer.
Alicia stepped closer.
“You knew my family had something Vanessa wanted.””
“Yes.””
“You knew the emerald mattered.””
“Yes.””
“You knew my grandmother warned me about both of you.””
“Yes.””
“And you still stayed.””
Marcus's eyes filled.
“I fell in love with you.””
Alicia looked away.
For one brief second, the anger in her face broke.
Then she saw the suitcase again.
It was open now.
Inside were neatly folded clothes.
And beneath them, a second wooden box.
Alicia pointed.
“What is that?””
Vanessa immediately moved in front of it.
“Nothing.””
Alicia laughed bitterly.
“That's what everyone says right before I find something.””
Vanessa grabbed the suitcase handle.
“I need to leave.””
Marcus caught her wrist.
“You can't.””
She pulled free.
“You don't get to decide that.””
Alicia stepped toward the suitcase.
Vanessa blocked her.
“Please.””
“Move.””
“No.””
Alicia stared at her.
“What is inside?””
Vanessa's eyes darted toward Marcus.
He whispered, “Show her.””
Vanessa shook her head.
“Marcus…”
“It's over.””
Vanessa's face crumpled.
She slowly stepped aside.
Alicia opened the second wooden box.
Inside were several old documents.
A child's birth certificate.
A newspaper clipping.
A photograph.
And a sealed envelope.
Alicia picked up the birth certificate.
Her eyes moved down the page.
Then stopped.
She looked at Vanessa.
“This says your mother's name was—”
Vanessa reached for it.
Alicia pulled it away.
Vanessa whispered, “Please don't.””
Alicia read the name again.
It was a name she knew.
A name that appeared in her grandmother's old family Bible.
A name Alicia had always believed belonged to a distant relative who died before she was born.
She looked at Marcus.
“Why is Vanessa's mother listed as my grandmother's daughter?””
Marcus's face went white.
Vanessa began to cry.
Alicia slowly turned the birth certificate over.
There was a handwritten note on the back.
One sentence.
*VANESSA WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO KNOW SHE WAS AN HEIR.*
Alicia looked up.
“An heir to what?””
Vanessa stared at the emerald ring in Alicia's hand.
“The house.””
Alicia frowned.
“What house?””
Vanessa's voice broke.
“Not this one.””
May you like
Then someone knocked from inside the wooden box.
Alicia froze.
