The Porsche, the Necklace, and the Name She Feared

CHAPTER 2 - THE WOMAN FROM THE GLASS BUILDING

The parking lot no longer felt like a stage for a cheap public insult.

It felt like a trapdoor had opened.

The young woman took one step back and put a hand to the necklace at her throat. "Excuse me?"

The silver-haired woman came closer, elegant in a cream jacket, her expression no longer confused but stunned. She looked first at the necklace, then at the young man.

"Nico," she said softly, "did you know she had it?"

So his name was Nico.

He shook his head. "No, Elena. I didn't."

The rich girl's chin lifted again, though less steadily now. "My father gave me this necklace. It's mine."

Elena's eyes sharpened. "Your father?"

"Rafael Ortega."

That name hit Nico harder than the insults had.

The bystanders could feel it. Even the whispers stopped.

Nico slipped one hand into his pocket. "Rafael Ortega is your father?"

She narrowed her eyes. "Yes. Why?"

Elena answered before he could. "Because Rafael stole that necklace from my mother thirty-two years ago."

The young woman laughed, but it landed badly. "That's insane."

"It was part of a matching pair," Elena said. "One belonged to my mother. One to her sister."

Her gaze moved to Nico. "And your mother wore the other one the day she left."

Something passed over Nico's face then. Not anger. Something older. A bruise under the skin.

The woman in front of the Porsche stared between them. "What does that have to do with me?"

Nico looked at her carefully now, as if seeing beyond the dress, the jewelry, the arrogance.

"What's your name?"

She hesitated. "Marisol."

Elena closed her eyes for a second.

When she opened them, there were tears there.

"Rafael had a daughter named Marisol," she whispered. "The same year Nico's mother disappeared."

Marisol's fingers tightened around the necklace.

Then her phone rang.

She glanced at the screen, and all the color drained from her face.

It was her father.

When she answered, the first thing he said was, "Leave that man immediately. And whatever you do, don't let him see the back of the necklace."