It’ll cover it and more.”
Agnes’s eyes widened. “My bakery? It’s my life’s work.
I can’t sell it.”
“Gran!” Selene cried. “It’s about Dad! Do you want him in prison?”
“No, but I can’t sell,” Agnes said firmly.
“How would I live? Your father won’t support me. No, Selene, I won’t.”
Selene stood, tears streaming.
“If you don’t help, I’ll never speak to you again. How can you abandon us? I hate you!” she screamed, storming out and slamming the door.
Unable to raise the money, Selene watched her father go to prison despite Kessler’s efforts. She visited Elias often, vowing never to abandon him. But six months into his sentence, her phone rang while she shopped for groceries.
“Is this Mr. Vance’s daughter?” a man asked. “Inspector Caldwell here.”
“Yes?
What’s this about?” Selene frowned. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Your father died last night in his cell.
Heart attack. It was quick.”
Selene’s cart crashed into another shopper’s. She collapsed in the aisle, sobbing into her phone.
The preparations that followed hardened her heart. As they cremated Elias, she could only think Agnes let him die alone in jail, robbing her of a final goodbye. “Selene!” Gideon’s voice snapped her back to the present.
“What?” she blinked, realizing she’d clenched the jewelry box so tightly it hurt. “Where’s your grandmother?” Gideon asked, gripping her shoulders with concern. “She left,” Selene sighed.
“For good. Let’s go inside.”
But her eyes fell to the box. Biting her lip, she hurled it to the ground with force.
“Selene!” Gideon exclaimed. “Careful! What’s that?”
The box shattered, and a ring rolled out, glinting with large stones.
“Is that an emerald ring?” Gideon asked. Selene knelt, examining it. “No way.
How could she afford this?”
A tiny folded paper peeked from the broken box. Selene grabbed it, gasping as Agnes’s words sank in. Dear Selene,
I know you hate me, but your father wasn’t a good man.
He did terrible things, careless of the consequences or those he hurt. I warned my daughter not to marry him, but she didn’t listen, and I believe he drove her to give up on life. I could’ve saved him from jail, but he didn’t deserve it.
Nor did he deserve a daughter as loving as you. There’s so much you don’t know. I kept the bakery for you, not me.
I hope you’ll understand someday. Take this ring as part of my wedding gift. A lawyer will contact you about the rest.
Love you to the moon and back,
Gran. “Oh God,” Selene whispered, her heart softening. The next day, Selene drove to Agnes’s house, a place she hadn’t visited in years.
Two moving trucks stood outside, and people were moving in. Confused, she demanded answers, but the movers only said the house was recently sold. Desperate, Selene knocked on the neighbor’s door.
Mrs. Linden, an elderly woman, greeted her warmly. “What are you doing here, dear?
I miss Agnes,” Mrs. Linden said softly. “What do you mean?” Selene asked, startled.
“She moved weeks ago, after her diagnosis,” Mrs. Linden said. “Skin cancer, stage four.”
Selene froze.
“She didn’t tell me.”
Mrs. Linden nodded, mentioning her own mother’s death from the same disease. “I’m sorry, but I need to find her!” Selene interrupted.
“Frank’s, I think,” Mrs. Linden said. Selene rushed to Frank’s, a rundown motel that was once a charming vacation spot.
At the reception, she begged for Agnes’s room number. “The grandmother?” the receptionist said. “Let me get my manager.”
“No!” Selene snapped.
“Give me her room now!”
“She passed last night,” the receptionist said awkwardly. “Housekeeping found her. The coroner’s taken her.”
Selene’s eyes flared.
She nodded stiffly, walked out, and let out a gut-wrenching scream.
