Maria had hidden them somewhere he could never find.
Inside a silver necklace.
The necklace I had worn every day since childhood.
I touched the pendant around my neck.
“The key,” I whispered.
Adrian nodded.
“The necklace contains a tiny compartment. Inside it is the key to a safety deposit box. Your mother hid the original evidence there.”
I suddenly understood why Daniel had threatened me.
Why the black box had appeared.
Why Jonah’s mother had arranged our marriage.
Everything led back to those missing documents.
But there was still
one question.
“What happened to my mother?”
Adrian’s expression crumbled.
“On the night she died, Richard followed her to an abandoned road outside the city. She had agreed to meet Jonah’s mother because she believed she could finally negotiate a safe way to expose the truth.”
He closed his eyes.
“Richard arrived before the meeting ended. He tried to force Maria to reveal where she had hidden the evidence. She refused.”
My hands began to shake.
“And the accident?”
“It wasn’t an accident.”
Adrian looked directly at me.
“Richard deliberately
