Chapter 2 - Camilla Had Seen the Seal in Her Grandfather’s Notebook
We left the auction hall with security surrounding us.
The auction house immediately isolated the broken clock, the envelope, the shattered jewelry display, and the surrounding security footage.
Camilla sat beside me in a private office, still convinced she had ruined everything.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.”
I knelt in front of her.
“You made a mistake.”
“It was the most expensive thing.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled.
“Are we going to lose our house?”
I almost laughed, then realized she was serious.
“No.”
“Are they going to arrest me?”
“No.”
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
The clock was insured.
There would be reports.
Questions.
Possibly a liability dispute.
But none of that explained Marco.
I placed the sealed envelope on the desk.
Camilla immediately looked away.
“You recognize this.”
She hesitated.
Then nodded.
“From Grandpa’s book.”
My father, Victor, had died eleven months earlier.
He adored Camilla.
During the final years of his life, they spent Sunday afternoons together in his library while he cataloged pieces from the family collection.
After his death, Camilla was allowed to keep one of his small handwritten notebooks.
“What did Grandpa write?”
Camilla looked frightened.
“He said I wasn’t supposed to tell Marco.”
My chest tightened.
“Tell Marco what?”
She whispered:
“If I ever saw the lion with three stars, I had to give it to you.”
That changed everything.
My father had left instructions for an eight-year-old child.
Specific instructions.
About a seal hidden inside an antique Marco desperately wanted.
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And he had chosen Camilla because, apparently, he believed somebody around him could not be trusted.
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