The name carved into the marble read:
“Sophia Laurent — Beloved Daughter.”
Elena stared at the date.
It matched the second necklace.
Not hers.
Victoria’s hands shook violently.
“My sister gave birth to twins,” she confessed. “The night the mansion caught fire, one baby disappeared.”
Lightning split the sky.
Elena felt sick.
“You’re saying… I had a twin sister?”
Victoria nodded slowly.
“We believed she died in the fire.”
The old woman knelt beside the grave, tears mixing with rainwater.
“But after seeing your necklace… I realized something impossible.”
Elena whispered,
“The body inside this grave…”
Victoria looked up in horror.
“…may not belong to your sister at all.”
Suddenly—
A voice echoed behind them.
“You should’ve left the past buried.”
They turned instantly.
A tall man stood beneath a black umbrella.
Elegant. Cold. Familiar.
Elena’s blood froze.
Because he was holding the THIRD emerald necklace.
Victoria stumbled backward in terror.
“No…” she whispered. “You died twenty years ago.”
The man smiled slowly.
“I had to.”
Elena’s heart pounded violently.
“Who are you?”
The man stepped closer, rain dripping from the emerald.
Then he said the words that shattered everything:
“I’m the reason your mother was buried in that grave.”
Thunder exploded overhead.
Victoria screamed.
And Elena realized the truth too late—
the fire twenty years ago…
was never an accident.
