“What do you mean, don’t call the authorities?” I whispered. “What’s wrong, Andy?”
He didn’t answer. He just turned toward the hallway. I followed him, my heartbeat picking up with every step.
Lily’s door was open. Nothing was out of place in her room. Except for the box sitting in the center of her bed. And something about it made everything else in the room feel wrong.
“Please don’t scream… and don’t call anyone yet. Don’t call the authorities.”
“Just open it,” Andrew demanded.
I walked closer, my heart pounding. I opened the box and froze.
Inside was a diamond ring.
For a moment, my mind didn’t process it. It didn’t belong there. Not in Lily’s room. Not hidden like that.
Then I saw the cash beneath it. Neatly stacked. And beneath that, a folded note.
I didn’t touch it right away. I just stared at everything, as if it might explain itself if I gave it enough time.
Andrew stepped closer. “That looks like Mrs. Lewis’s ring,” he said. “The one she said she lost.”
For a second, I just stared at it. Mrs. Lewis had shown me a picture of her ring months ago. I remembered it clearly.
“Just open it.”
“Oh my God… what is her ring doing in Lily’s room?” I panicked.
Then I unfolded the note:
“Just a few more days… and it’ll finally be ours.”
“What does this mean?” I worried, glancing at Andrew.
I read it again. And again. Nothing about it felt innocent.
And that was when the thought came: What if I missed something? What if all these years I had been so focused on holding everything together that I hadn’t seen what I should have?
“Bree,” Andy said. “We don’t know what this is yet.”
Nothing about it felt innocent.
“Andy, Lily’s never…” I paused. “I’m scared…”
“If we react too fast,” Andy said carefully, “we could hurt her.”
That landed hard. So I decided I wasn’t going to react. I was going to find the truth first.
That evening, dinner was loud, the way it always was, with Jake arguing over seconds and Sophie laughing at something that didn’t seem that funny. But I wasn’t part of it the same way.
I was watching.
Lily barely spoke. Noah kept glancing at her. Maya stopped talking when I walked in.
“What?” I finally asked.
“Nothing,” Maya said quickly.
