Chapter 13 - The Secret Package
Two days after my prison visit, an unexpected parcel arrived at our front door. It wasn't from the courts, nor was it from a delivery service. A nondescript brown envelope had been shoved directly into our mailbox under the cover of night, bearing no return address and addressed simply to Chloe Nguyen.
I brought it inside, laying it carefully on the kitchen table. Mom watched from the stove, her hands pausing over the cutting board.
"What is that?" she asked, her voice tinged with lingering apprehension.
"I don't know yet," I said, putting on a pair of latex gloves out of pure clinical habit.
Using a pair of kitchen shears, I sliced open the heavy paper seal. Inside lay a single, tarnished brass key attached to a small leather tag, along with a handwritten note scrawled in a frantic, hurried cursive.
Recognizing the looping handwriting immediately, my breath hitched. It was Vanessa's handwriting.
‘If you're reading this, Brandon was too cowardly to make the deal. But I'm not going to rot in this hellhole alone while he protects his pride. The key opens Locker 412 at the downtown Central Transit Station. Inside, you'll find everything Brandon told you was lost forever—including your father’s pocket watch and the true deeds to the properties our grandfather left us. Do whatever you want with them. Consider it my parting gift to the family I destroyed.’
I stared at the note, my mind racing through the implications. Vanessa had betrayed Brandon just as quickly as she had betrayed my mother.
"Is it from them?" Mom asked quietly, walking over and placing a warm hand on my shoulder.
May you like
"It's from Vanessa," I replied, holding up the brass key. "She left us the key to a locker downtown containing Dad's vintage watch and grandfather's original land deeds. She's turning on Brandon to save her own skin."
Mom looked at the key, her expression surprisingly calm. She didn't look angry; she looked profoundly tired. "Greed destroys everything it touches, Chloe. They tore our family apart for things that can't even follow us to the grave. Let's go get your father's watch back, and then let's close this chapter forever."
