Chapter 2: The Name That Stopped Everything
Clara looked up at him.
Her eyes were still wet, her hands still shaking.
"It was my mother's," she said.
"She gave it to me before she passed."
Vincent didn't move.
He didn't speak.
He just stared at the locket like it was something that couldn't exist in this room, in this life, in this moment.
"Your mother's name," he said quietly.
"What was her name?"
"Elena." Clara's voice dropped to almost nothing.
"Elena Reyes."
The color left Vincent's face.
Behind him, Vivian laughed — a short, sharp sound that cut through the silence.
"Vincent, she's a server.
Whatever she's told you, she's lying.
These people will say anything—"
"Be quiet, Vivian."
He said it without turning around.
Without raising his voice.
And somehow that was worse than shouting.
He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his phone.
His hands were steady, but his jaw was tight.
He opened an old photo — one Clara couldn't see from where she knelt — and held it close to the locket.
His throat moved.
"This locket," he said slowly, "was made for one woman.
My mother had it commissioned in 1987.
There was only one other person she ever gave a copy to."
He finally looked up.
"A woman she called her sister."
Vivian had gone very still.
---
What Vincent found on that phone changed everything — and Vivian knew it.
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