Some make him angry.
Some make him silent.
The jewelry breaks him.
Your mother’s sapphire earrings are gone.
Vivian claimed he gave them to her. But you find a photo of her wearing them at a charity event six months earlier, when your father was already recovering from the accident and barely able to walk.
He sees the photo and turns his face away.
“I bought those when your mother published her first article,” he says.
You sit beside him.
“I’ll find them.”
“Bella.”
“I will.”
You do.
They are at a private jeweler in Manhattan, consigned under Marcus’s name.
The jeweler turns over records after one letter from Maya Chen and one visit from Detective Bennett.
Marcus is arrested three days later for financial exploitation and possession of stolen property.
He cries.
That surprises you.
Not because you thought he was strong.
Because you thought he knew he was a coward.
At the police station, he asks to speak with you.
Your attorney says no.
You say yes, but only behind glass, with Maya present.
