CHAPTER 17: The Necklace

The apartment fell silent after the line disconnected.

Not ordinary silence.

The kind that settles before something breaks.

Aria stood frozen near the windows while Ethan moved instantly toward the front entrance. Every trace of exhaustion from earlier had disappeared from him now, replaced by sharp focus.

He looked dangerous again.

Controlled, but only barely.

The footsteps outside had stopped.

Whoever had come upstairs was standing directly outside the penthouse.

Waiting.

Ethan glanced toward Aria. “Stay here.”

She almost argued out of instinct, but something in his expression stopped her.

He opened a drawer near the hallway console and pulled something metallic from inside before slipping it behind his back too quickly for her to fully see.

A weapon.

The realization tightened her chest.

Ethan approached the door cautiously, checking the security monitor mounted beside it.

His expression shifted slightly.

Confusion.

Then irritation.

“There’s no one there.”

Aria frowned. “What?”

“The hallway’s empty.”

That made no sense.

They had both heard the elevator.

The footsteps.

Ethan unlocked the door carefully anyway and opened it.

The hallway outside was deserted.

Soft golden lighting stretched across polished floors without a single person in sight.

But directly in front of the door sat a small black box.

Aria slowly walked closer.

“Don’t touch it yet,” Ethan said immediately.

She stopped.

He crouched first, inspecting the package carefully before picking it up. No wires. No visible threat. Just a matte black box tied with a thin silver ribbon.

Simple.

Elegant.

Which somehow made it worse.

Ethan carried it inside and shut the door behind him.

Neither of them spoke for a second.

Then Aria noticed something written on the top of the box in silver ink.

For Isabella.

Her stomach dropped.

Ethan saw it too.

His jaw tightened instantly.

“That’s sick,” Aria whispered.

Ethan carefully untied the ribbon and opened the box.

Inside, resting against black velvet, was the silver crescent moon necklace Victor had shown her at the pier.

Aria felt the air leave her lungs.

“No…”

Ethan stared at it silently.

Beneath the necklace was a folded note.

He reached for it first.

But Aria stopped him.

“No. Let me.”

Their eyes met briefly before Ethan handed it over.

The paper felt strangely heavy between her fingers.

Inside, only one sentence was written.

You lost this the night you disappeared.

Aria read it twice.

Then a third time.

Her hands had started trembling before she even realized it.

“This is insane.”

Ethan took the note from her, his expression darkening with every second.

“He’s trying to destabilize you.”

“He already has.”

Her voice came out quieter than intended.

Aria stared down at the necklace again.

The crescent moon pendant looked old up close. Tiny scratches marked the silver surface like years of wear.

Without thinking, she reached toward it.

Ethan caught her wrist immediately.

“Don’t.”

She looked up at him. “Why?”

“Because Victor doesn’t do anything without a reason.”

“Maybe it really belonged to her.”

“Aria.”

The warning in his voice was clear.

But she gently pulled her hand free anyway.

The second her fingers touched the necklace, a strange feeling moved through her chest.

Not memory.

Not exactly.

Something sharper.

A flash.

A dark room.

Rain against glass.

Someone laughing softly.

Then nothing.

Aria inhaled sharply and stepped back.

Ethan noticed instantly. “What happened?”

She pressed her fingers lightly against her temple.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I just…” She frowned, struggling to explain it. “For a second, something felt familiar.”

The room went still.

Ethan’s expression changed immediately.

Fear.

Real fear.

“Aria.”

“I’m serious.” She looked at him, unsettled now. “It was only a second, but it felt like I’d seen it before.”

“That’s not possible.”

“Then why did it feel real?”

Neither of them had an answer for that.

Ethan took the necklace from the box and examined it carefully. His movements were controlled, but Aria could see the tension in his hands now.

“You said she wore this the night she disappeared.”

“Yes.”

“Then how does Victor still have it?”

Ethan’s silence stretched too long.

And suddenly Aria understood.

“He never found her body.”

The words landed heavily between them.

“No,” Ethan admitted quietly.

A chill crawled through her skin.

Until now, Isabella had existed in her mind like a tragedy from someone else’s past. Sad. Complicated. Distant.

But this changed things.

No body meant uncertainty.

And uncertainty left room for dangerous possibilities.

Aria walked slowly toward the windows again, trying to steady her thoughts.

Below them, the city looked bright and alive beneath the afternoon sun.

Completely disconnected from the nightmare unfolding upstairs.

“You said Victor thought you knew what happened to her.”

“He does.”

“Do you?”

Ethan looked at her sharply.

“No.”

The answer came immediately.

Firmly.

And for the first time in days, she believed him completely.

That surprised her.

“You loved her,” Aria said softly.

Ethan looked away briefly. “Yes.”

“And she vanished.”

Another silence.

Then he nodded once.

Aria wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

“That kind of thing changes people.”

His gaze returned to her slowly. “You think I married you because I couldn’t let her go.”

It wasn’t phrased like a question.

Aria hesitated.

“Part of me thinks maybe you didn’t even realize you were doing it.”

Pain flickered briefly across his face.

Gone almost immediately.

But there.

“That isn’t what this is.”

“Then what is it?”

Ethan looked like he wanted to answer.

Really answer.

But before he could, his phone buzzed sharply across the counter.

He glanced down at the screen and immediately frowned.

Daniel Mercer.

Ethan answered without taking his eyes off Aria.

“What?”

Daniel’s voice was tense enough that Aria could hear it from across the room.

“You need to see this.”

Something cold settled in Ethan’s expression. “See what?”

“Victor accessed private surveillance archives this morning.”

Ethan straightened slightly.

“What archives?”

A pause.

Then Daniel spoke more quietly.

“The night Isabella disappeared.”

Every muscle in Ethan’s body seemed to lock instantly.

Aria felt her pulse quicken.

“There’s footage?” Ethan asked.

“Not complete footage,” Daniel replied. “But enough.”

Enough.

The word echoed sharply in the silence.

Ethan’s voice lowered. “Where are you?”

“My office. Come alone.”

“That’s not happening.”

“It has to,” Daniel said. “Because if Victor sees this before you do, we have a much bigger problem.”

Ethan ended the call without another word.

Aria stared at him. “What kind of footage?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you’re going.”

“Yes.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

The refusal came instantly.

Aria let out a frustrated breath. “You really need to stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Deciding things for me.”

“This isn’t about control.”

“Then what is it about?”

Ethan stepped closer, his voice quieter now.

“If there’s footage from that night, I need to know what’s on it before Victor uses it against you.”

The wording made her stomach tighten.

“Against me?”

Ethan looked like he regretted saying it immediately.

But it was too late.

Aria frowned. “Why would footage from Isabella’s disappearance have anything to do with me?”

Ethan didn’t answer.

And that silence terrified her more than anything else had today.

Because slowly, piece by piece, one horrifying possibility was beginning to form.

Not just in Victor’s mind.

In Ethan’s too.

Aria stared at him carefully.

Then asked the question neither of them wanted spoken aloud.

“What if Isabella Hale never died?”