Chapter 9: The Woman Behind the Messages
Nobody breathed.
The phone remained in Marcus's hand.
Alicia read the message twice.
Then she looked at Vanessa.
“Are you in danger?””
Vanessa didn't answer.
Alicia stepped closer.
“Vanessa.””
“I don't know.””
Marcus's phone vibrated again.
All three looked down.
Another message.
*YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.*
Alicia's heart hammered.
“Who is this?””
Marcus stared at the screen.
“I don't know.””
“You've been receiving messages from my dead grandmother's number.””
“Yes.””
“For how long?””
“Three days.””
“And you didn't tell me?””
“I thought it was a threat.””
“It is a threat.””
Vanessa grabbed the phone.
“Let me see.””
Marcus pulled it back.
“No.””
“Why?””
“Because there's something else.””
Alicia looked at him.
“What?””
Marcus opened the message history.
There were dozens of messages.
All from Evelyn's number.
But the oldest message wasn't from three days ago.
It was from twenty years earlier.
Alicia leaned closer.
The timestamp read:
*June 14, 2006.*
She stared.
“That's impossible.””
Marcus nodded.
“I know.””
The message was short.
*KEEP THE GIRLS APART.*
Alicia's mouth went dry.
“Girls.””
Vanessa whispered, “Me and you.””
Marcus scrolled.
Another message.
*THE EMERALD MUST STAY WITH THE FIRST HEIR.*
Another.
*THE SECOND HEIR MUST NEVER SEE THE ORIGINAL WILL.*
Another.
Alicia looked at the old will.
“Second heir.””
Vanessa nodded.
“That was me.””
Alicia shook her head.
“No.””
Vanessa frowned.
“What?””
Alicia pointed to the original will.
“My name is listed first.””
Vanessa looked down.
“So?””
“My grandmother's handwritten notes call you the second heir.””
Vanessa stared.
Alicia's eyes moved across the document.
“But the legal will names me first.””
Marcus whispered, “Then the order was changed.””
“By whom?””
Nobody answered.
Alicia looked at the forged witness signature.
Then the message.
Then the emerald.
Suddenly she understood one thing.
Someone had spent twenty years manipulating the story.
And the person who benefited most wasn't Vanessa.
It wasn't Marcus.
It wasn't even Alicia.
It was whoever had controlled the inheritance documents.
Alicia looked at Vanessa.
“Your mother.””
Vanessa's face changed.
“My mother died.””
“When?””
“Twenty years ago.””
Alicia stared.
“Exactly twenty years ago?””
“Yes.””
“Before or after my grandmother wrote the warning?””
Vanessa hesitated.
“After.””
Alicia looked at Marcus.
“And your father?””
Marcus went still.
“My father died the same year.””
Alicia's eyes narrowed.
“Did they know each other?””
Marcus didn't answer.
Vanessa whispered, “Yes.””
Alicia's heart sank.
“Your father and Vanessa's mother.””
Marcus nodded.
“They were involved.””
Vanessa's eyes widened.
“You knew?””
“I found out later.””
“Why didn't you tell me?””
“Because I was trying to keep you alive.””
Alicia turned toward him.
“Alive?””
Marcus looked at the locked wooden box.
“The emerald wasn't just about inheritance.””
“What is it about?””
“Proof.””
“Proof of what?””
Marcus shook his head.
“I don't know.””
Vanessa stepped closer.
“My mother told me one thing before she died.””
“What?””
“She said Evelyn didn't betray us.””
Alicia stared.
“She said the family had been betrayed by someone else.””
“Who?””
“She never said.””
Alicia looked at the messages.
“What if your mother was trying to expose them?””
Vanessa whispered, “Then why did she disappear?””
Alicia turned.
“Disappear?””
Vanessa nodded.
“That's what everyone told me. That she died.””
Alicia's eyes widened.
“You don't believe that?””
“I saw her body.””
Marcus looked at Vanessa.
“No.””
Vanessa turned.
“What?””
“I saw your mother after you did.””
“What are you talking about?””
“She wasn't dead.””
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Alicia stared at Marcus.
“You saw her?””
Marcus nodded.
“The night Evelyn told me to hide the box.””
Vanessa's face collapsed.
“You're lying.””
“I wish I were.””
“What did you see?””
Marcus looked at her.
“Your mother was alive.””
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“Where?””
“I don't know.””
“You knew she was alive and never told me?””
“I was fourteen!””
“You were old enough to remember!””
“I was terrified!””
Vanessa shoved him.
Marcus stumbled backward.
Alicia grabbed Vanessa's arm.
“Stop!””
Vanessa was sobbing.
“My whole life…”
Marcus wiped his face.
“She told Evelyn she would come back for the emerald.””
Alicia froze.
“Come back?””
Marcus nodded.
“She said the original emerald would prove who she really was.””
Vanessa whispered, “My mother.””
Marcus nodded.
Alicia looked down at the emerald.
“What if she's still alive?””
Marcus didn't answer.
The phone vibrated.
A new message appeared.
This time, there was no text.
Only a photograph.
Alicia opened it.
Her hands went cold.
The photograph showed an elderly Black woman sitting at a table.
She was holding the original emerald.
Behind her was a wall covered in family photographs.
And beside her—
A wooden box identical to Alicia's.
Vanessa leaned closer.
Her entire body began trembling.
“That's her.””
Alicia looked at her.
“Your mother?””
Vanessa nodded.
Marcus whispered, “Impossible.””
Alicia zoomed in.
The photograph had been taken recently.
The woman looked older.
But unmistakable.
Vanessa began crying.
“My mother is alive.””
Alicia looked at the bottom of the photograph.
A handwritten note appeared beneath the image.
*COME TO THE BOX.*
Then another line.
*COME ALONE.*
Marcus's phone rang.
The caller ID showed:
*EVELYN COLE.*
Alicia stared at the screen.
Nobody moved.
Then the call was answered automatically.
A woman's voice came through the speaker.
Old.
Calm.
Familiar.
“Hello, Alicia.””
Alicia's blood turned cold.
She knew that voice.
It was her grandmother's voice.
Then the woman whispered:
May you like
“You finally found the second will.””
The line went dead.
