Nia stared at the wooden box for almost a full minute before touching it.It wasn't large.Maybe the size of a hardcover book.The wood was dark and scratched, with a thin layer of dust gathered around the edges. A small brass clasp held the lid shut.Her hands felt cold.She glanced toward the bedroom door.Nothing.The apartment was silent.Elias was asleep in the living room, or at least she hoped he was.Nia knelt beside the bed and lifted the box.It was heavier than it looked.She carried it to the small desk near the window and placed it down.For a few seconds, she simply stared at it.Her mother had kept this hidden for years.Why?The thought made Nia hesitate.There were things she had never asked her mother because she'd always believed there would be time.
There would be another birthday.Another Christmas.Another quiet afternoon when they could sit together and talk.There wasn't.Now every unanswered question felt like a debt.Nia reached for the clasp.It opened with a soft click.She lifted the lid.Inside were papers.Photographs.An old key.And a small velvet pouch.Nia's breathing slowed.She picked up the photographs first.The first one showed her mother standing outside a large building.Nia didn't recognize it.She turned it over.Nothing.The second photograph was older.Her mother was sitting at a restaurant table.Across from her sat Damian Vale.Nia stared at him.He looked younger than he did in the photograph from the envelope.Maybe twenty-five or twenty-six.Her mother was smiling.Damian was smiling too.
It was difficult to imagine the cold, intimidating billionaire from the photographs online looking like this.Nia turned the picture over.A date was written on the back.
June 14, 2000.She frowned.Twenty-six years ago.The same year she was born.Her stomach tightened.She reached for another photograph.This one made her stop breathing.Her mother was standing beside Damian.Between them was a baby.A tiny baby wrapped in a pale blanket.Nia's fingers began to tremble.She looked closer.The baby's face was barely visible.But on the blanket was a small embroidered symbol.A crown.The same crown.Nia dropped the photograph onto the desk."No."The word came out barely above a whisper.She picked it up again.There was no mistake.Her mother had been holding a baby.Her mother had been standing beside Damian Vale.And the date was the year Nia was born.Nia turned the photograph over.Nothing was written on it.She looked through the remaining pictures.There were more.Her mother and Damian at a beach.Her mother and Damian outside a hospital.Her mother sitting behind the wheel of a car.Damian holding a baby.Then one final photograph.Nia's hands went still.It was a picture of her mother standing in front of a large white house.Beside her...