Chapter 3 - THE MOTHER'S LEGACYThat evening, when I arrived at the Valenti estate, Carmine did not play games.
He poured two glasses of amber scotch, sat across from me in his private library, and admitted the truth: the diamond had belonged to his missing mother, Sofia Valenti, who had vanished twenty years ago under mysterious circumstances.
Then, he slid a thick manila folder across the mahogany table.
Inside were bank receipts, surveillance logs, and digital footprints proving that Liam hadn't just accidentally stumbled into a loan shark trap. He had spent the last two years actively searching for old, buried records connected to a secretive private social club called Arden.
May you like
Before I could process what that meant, Carmine dropped the heaviest truth of all.
“Your mother taught piano here in Manhattan,” Carmine said quietly, his eyes boring into mine. “She knew Sofia Valenti personally before both of our mothers disappeared from our lives on the exact same night.”
