Chapter 6 - The Last Thing I Needed
At five in the morning, I remembered why I had gone home.
Grandma’s necklace.
It was still in my bedroom.
For several seconds, that felt unbearable.
The company could be protected. The wedding could be stopped.
But I had almost walked into that church wearing nothing she had ever touched.
Lena offered to go.
“No,” Evelyn said. “We don’t send anyone into a house where they might be cornered.”
I called Marcus, the security supervisor who had worked our stores for twelve years.
He arrived with another guard and asked only one question.
“Are you sure you want to go inside?”
“I’m sure I want my grandmother’s necklace.”
The sky was turning gray when we pulled into the driveway.
Julian’s car was gone.
His overnight bag sat beside the foyer bench.
Marcus remained at the front entrance while I went upstairs.
My mother’s door was closed.
I crossed into my room.
The necklace was in the small walnut box Grandma had given me when I turned eighteen.
I opened it.
A delicate gold chain. A diamond pendant shaped like a falling drop.
Grandma used to wear it when she negotiated something difficult.
“Pretty things don’t make you weak,” she once told me. “But don’t let anybody convince you they make you safe.”
I fastened it around my neck.
Then I noticed my desk drawer was open.
I always kept it closed.
Inside, the folder containing my original estate documents had been moved.
My passport lay beneath it.
And beside the lamp was a hotel notepad.
Julian’s handwriting covered the top page.
My signature.
Again and again.
Mariana Bellamy.
Mariana Bellamy.
Mariana Bellamy.
Some versions were clumsy.
The last few were close.
I took a photograph without touching the pad.
Then I called Evelyn.
Her voice went flat.
“Leave it where it is. Ask Marcus to stay with you.”
The bedroom door opened behind me.
“Mariana?”
Mom stood in the hallway.
Her eyes dropped to the necklace.
Then the desk.
For one second, her face was empty of every expression she usually wore for me.
“What are you doing home?”
I turned slowly.
“Getting Grandma.”
She swallowed.
“You should have called.”
“It’s my house.”
We stared at each other.
From downstairs, Marcus called my name.
Mom glanced toward the stairs.
“Why is security here?”
I picked up the necklace box.
“Wedding precaution.”
As I passed her, she caught my wrist.
“Did you touch anything on that desk?”
I looked down at her hand.
May you like
Then back at her.
“What would I have found?”
