Sonia sneered before she pulled out the other key that Rose had given her. She tried the key out on every door in the house until she finally managed to unlock the door that led her to the storage room. She wasn’t entirely surprised—her stepmother and sister had sold off most of the valuable items in the house, so the storage room was probably the last and only place that still had some items in it.
A layer of dust found its way to her face the moment she pushed the door open. With one hand clamped over her nose and her mouth, she used her other hand to wave off the dust in front of her face. When most of the dust finally settled, she released her hand from her face before turning the lights on and walking into the room. “Oh gosh!” Her head hurt when she saw the cobwebs and scattered items that filled the room. This room is filled with stuff—how am I supposed to find anything here? She was tempted to give up, but she eventually took a deep breath and clenched her fists before walking into the room. I’ve come all the way here, after all. I’ll still have to hunt for it the next time if I don’t find it this time.
After some digging around, her entire being was coated with dirt and dust. She looked like a stray cat out of the gutter. Fortunately, she also managed to find a box that looked like it might carry the necklace that Rose had been talking about. The tiny leather suitcase didn’t have a lock on it, so she had no trouble opening it up. There were a bunch of lipsticks, foundation bottles, earrings, bracelets, and other items in it—the suitcase was a mess.
She finally found a necklace after some rummaging. “Is this the one?” She tilted her head to look at the necklace as she held it up to the light. This was the only necklace she found in the entire storage room, so she assumed that it was the right one. Well, it’s just an old, rusty necklace. What sort of secret could a thing like this hold? Confused, she lowered the necklace into her palm and poked around on the red onyx pendant that dangled from it. Her eyes narrowed with suspicion as she realized how the necklace looked rather familiar to her at that moment. I’ve seen this somewhere. Where have I seen it?
After some contemplation, her eyes widened as she got her answer. “Julia!” That’s right! I’ve seen it on Julia’s neck. She recalled how Julia wore a necklace that looked almost identical to the one in her hand. Back when Sonia first saw Julia’s necklace, she had assumed that Julia kept the necklace around as a memento. I remember wondering why Julia didn’t change into a different necklace—I recall how the necklace looked outdated and worn. The stone wasn’t even gleaming anymore. Well, it seems like the necklace is more than a keepsake to Julia now—she’s probably holding onto it for some other reason. But I don’t get how the necklace that Julia owns has anything to do with the one I’m holding.
Sonia concluded that it was impossible for both the necklaces to simply have similar designs to each other. The letters ‘DT’ were carved onto the backs of both the pendants. DT Jewelry was one of the most luxurious brands globally, and most of the accessories they produced were limited edition items—there’d only been one of each in the whole world. It was impossible for there to be two pendants of the same design. One explanation is that one of the necklaces is a well-made imitation and not actually an original DT necklace. Otherwise, both of the necklaces must be somehow related to one another. With that thought, Sonia kept the necklace into her bag and left the villa hastily.
Half an hour later, she arrived at the mall and headed directly to DT Jewelry’s counter. “Hello, miss. How can I help you?” the female worker asked with a smile.
Sonia pulled the necklace out of her bag. “I’d like to check if this necklace was manufactured by DT.”
The lady took the necklace into her hands and stared at it for a while before she flashed Sonia a rather bashful smile. “My apologies. This necklace looks like it was made a long while ago, so I can’t be sure if it’s manufactured by us. Why don’t you hold on for a while? I’ll get my manager to take a look at it.”
“Alright.” Sonia nodded. The lady poured Sonia some coffee before she went off to look for her manager. For approximately ten minutes, Sonia sipped on the cup of coffee in her hand while she waited patiently for the lady and her manager to get back to her.
“Does this necklace belong to you, miss?” the manager asked once he finally showed up.
Sonia nodded. “To be precise, my father was the one who passed it down to me.”
“I see.” The manager beamed as he lowered the necklace onto a piece of black velvet cloth. “DT Jewelry was indeed the one who manufactured this necklace, miss. I ran through our files and found out that this necklace was made 20 years ago. Someone called Mr. Gray had hired one of our designers just to create this piece.”
“Mr. Gray?” Sonia’s eyes lit up as she thought of Julia. “Is the man’s name Titus Gray?”
“That’s right. According to our files, Mr. Gray’s wife had just given birth to a daughter back then. Mr. Gray ordered our designers to come up with a special mother-daughter necklace for both his wife and his daughter. That design is the one that you’re holding in your hands now. This piece that you have should be the daughter’s necklace.” The manager had other thoughts running in his mind while he responded to Sonia. Mr. Gray was the one who customized this necklace, and this woman says that her father gave it to her. That must mean that Mr. Gray is her father. Yet, she refers to Mr. Gray by his full name, and her voice sounds rather cold when she says it. Could both of them have a bad relationship with each other?
Sonia furrowed her brows. My guess was right. Both of these necklaces are related to each other. The one Mrs. Gray has is the mother’s necklace, while the one with me is the daughter’s necklace. If that’s the case, then this necklace should be with Tina. What is it doing in the Reed Family’s hands? Could something have happened between the Reeds and the Grays 20 years ago? She bit onto her bottom lip. It seems like I’ll have to understand what happened between the Reeds and the Grays 20 years ago to solve the mystery behind this necklace. It’d be impossible to get the Gray Family to tell me anything—they’d never open their mouths. I’ll have to do some research on my own. “I got it. Thank you. Could you please polish this necklace a little?” Sonia asked with a smile.
“Of course.” The manager nodded. Sonia handed the necklace over to one of the staff members, who proceeded to polish and clean the necklace. It was a quick process—Sonia only had to wait for two minutes before it was done. She left after purchasing a pair of earrings from the store.
Julia arrived at the store a while after Sonia left. The manager came forward to greet Julia personally. “The bracelet you previously ordered has arrived, Mrs. Gray. I’ll bring it over to you immediately.”
“Sure.” Julia nodded with a faint smile. The manager unlocked the safe box and retrieved an emerald green bracelet from it. “Please take a look, Mrs. Gray. Is this what you were looking for?”
Julia took the bracelet into her hands and studied it for a while. The smile on her lips widened. “It looks good to me. I’ll put it on right now.”
“Let me help you,” the manager offered.
“It’s fine. I’ll do it on my own.” Julia rejected the manager’s offer and wore the bracelet by herself. The manager didn’t insist after that—he simply continued to smile at Julia. Right then, the manager noticed the necklace Julia was wearing. “I’ve always heard rumors of Miss Gray being a beauty, Mrs. Gray. The rumors were true—her eyes look just like yours.”
Happiness spread across Julia’s face when she heard the manager praising her daughter. “Thank you for your sweet words. Did Tina drop by earlier?”
The manager figured that Tina was Miss Gray’s name, so he nodded politely. “That’s right. She came over to ask about her necklace. Well, that’s odd—it seems like Miss Gray had no idea that the necklace she owned was a pair that was made along with yours, Mrs. Gray.”
Upon hearing the manager’s words, Julia’s bracelet fell onto the countertop before she managed to put it on. The manager winced as a sharp clang sounded. He immediately picked the bracelet up to check if it had been scratched after it struck the countertop.
“What did you just say? Did you say that Tina brought the other necklace over to ask you about it?” Julia glared at the manager as she questioned him in a rather impatient tone.
The manager couldn’t understand what was going on, so he simply nodded with a puzzled expression. “Yeah.”
“That’s impossible!” Julia shook her head furiously. Titus and I bought the necklace for Rina, and the necklace disappeared after Rina passed away. How could Tina have the necklace with her? There’s no way Tina came over to ask about the necklace. Does that mean that Rina was the one who visited the store? Is Rina alive? Julia grabbed onto the manager’s arm as she considered the possibility that her daughter wasn’t dead. “You said something earlier. You said that the girl’s eyes looked like mine, didn’t you?” Julia cried.
