CHAPTER 4: A FATHER'S LAST GIFT
CHAPTER 4: A FATHER'S LAST GIFT
Victoria tried to leave, but security blocked the exit.
Lena barely heard the shouting around her.
Her mind had drifted back to the final night she saw her father alive.
She remembered him sitting beside a small kitchen window, sketching quietly while rain tapped against the glass.
"If anyone ever questions who you are," he had told her, "draw this symbol."
She had laughed.
"What does it mean?"
He smiled sadly.
"It means the truth always leaves a trail."
At the time, she thought it was only another lesson about art.
Now she understood.
The famous artist handed Lena a worn leather notebook he had kept for years.
"I promised your father I'd give this to his daughter if I ever found her."
Inside were dozens of letters.
Every page described how Daniel Brooks had created the masterpiece... and how powerful investors had stolen it before the exhibition.
One final letter rested at the back.
It was addressed simply:
May you like
To My Lena.
Tears blurred her vision before she even unfolded it.
