Chapter 4 - THE SILVER LOCK
As Nora snuggled deeper into his chest, the collar of her blue-and-white floral dress pulled slightly to the left.
A fine, delicate silver chain slipped out from beneath the fabric, sliding across her small collarbone. Dangling from the end of the chain was a small, oval silver locket, tarnished slightly around its filigree edges, catching the bright afternoon light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Adrian’s eyes locked onto the silver metal.
At first, he looked at it with mild, detached curiosity—a piece of inexpensive jewelry left on a child by her mother. But as his dark eyes traced the unique, hand-engraved pattern of ivy leaves swirling across the oval face of the silver piece, every drop of blood in his body seemed to turn to ice.
His entire body froze once more, far more rigidly than when Nora had first climbed onto his lap.
He knew that locket.
It was not a mass-produced piece of trinket jewelry sold in department stores. It was a one-of-a-kind antique, forged in London in 1920, featuring a custom, hand-carved ivy motif with a tiny, hidden release catch tucked into the lower right seam. He had spent three months searching the European art market to find it six years ago.
It was the locket he had placed around his wife Evelyn’s neck on their wedding anniversary.
It was the locket Evelyn was wearing the night her car plunged off the coastal cliffs into the dark, churning Pacific Ocean—the locket that had never been recovered from the wreckage.
Adrian’s breath hitched in his throat, a sharp, choked sound that died in the back of his mouth.
His hand began to tremble violently—a weakness he hadn't displayed in his entire adult life. His long, tattooed fingers hovered over the small silver oval, shaking so hard he could barely align his thumb with the microscopic release catch on the edge.
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He looked down at the sleeping girl, then back at the tarnished silver hanging from her neck.
With painstaking, terrified care, so as not to wake the child resting against his heart, Adrian lifted the small silver locket between his shaking thumb and forefinger.
