Chapter 165: Is This a Secret Mark?

Nora stared at him for three seconds.

"Did you ask me beforehand?"

"No." Oliver answered without hesitation. "If I had, you probably wouldn't be wearing it today."

Nora took a slow, deep breath and let it out.

Todd finally spoke up beside them.

"Oliver, the way you work with Nora—" his voice was unreadable, "—same as me. Act first, explain later."

Oliver didn't respond to that.

Nora looked down at the dark pattern along her neckline. She pressed her fingers against it and felt the raised embroidery threads beneath her fingertips.

Her phone buzzed on the table.

Calla.

[Ms. Thorne, I'm really looking forward to our meeting the day after tomorrow. By the way, my fiancé happens to be in the city—would it be alright if he joined us? He's been hoping to meet you.]

Nora picked up her phone and passed it to Oliver.

Oliver glanced at it for a couple seconds, then passed it to Todd.

All three of them read the message in turn.

Todd handed the phone back to Nora.

"Go."

Nora and Oliver both looked at him.

"Go and meet them. Bring Oliver." Todd tapped the old letter from Atlas on the table. "Atlas split the puzzle into three pieces. Julian has the painting, Oliver has the letter, you have the seal. Now Chase is coming to the table himself—if he's also looking for whatever's in that painting, the day after tomorrow is a chance to get every piece in the same room."

He pulled his hand back from the letter.

"But—" he looked up at Oliver, "—you're planning to send Nora to meet Chase in your dress?"

Oliver didn't dodge the question.

"Yes."

Todd let out a quiet laugh—soft, almost just a breath.

"Fine. Then I'll be there too. Just to make sure you don't forget to give Nora back when you're done with her."

Nora gripped her phone and glanced between the two of them.

Her thumb hovered over Calla's message. She didn't tap reply.

On the table, Atlas's old letter lay open, the blue-black ink resting quietly on yellowed paper.

She'll know what to do.

Nora stared at those five words for two seconds.

Atlas, I don't know yet.

But soon.

She looked down and typed a reply to Calla.

[Sure. Three o'clock the day after tomorrow—I'll pick the place.]

Then she added one more line.

[I'll be bringing someone as well. I hope that's alright, Miss Flynn.]

Send.

She set the phone on the table. All three coffees had gone cold. No one had finished theirs.

Wyatt knocked twice from outside the door.

"Mr. Percy—the clinic up north. Chase left. But Calla didn't. She went back inside."

Nora's fingers stopped on the rim of her cup.

Back inside?

What was Calla doing at a private clinic?

Calla knowing about the 100% Kona Peaberry was already off.

No one answered Wyatt.

Nora's mind was working. Calla going to Harmony Private Clinic—she'd looked into that place before. It was registered under a British doctor, marketed as high-end health checks and cosmetic treatments, but the client list was never made public. Three months ago, Storm had dug around and come up clean—no suspicious transactions, nothing to flag.

But that was three months ago.

"Let's set the clinic aside for now." Nora pulled her attention back to the two documents spread on the table. "Deal with what's in front of us first."

She tapped Atlas's letter.

"The painting Julian's been holding—that's the key. The first eight digits of the settlement code match. The startup funds for The Ashes and that 120 million from the Percy family moved through the same channel. If the painting holds the complete record of that channel, it's hard proof of The Ashes' core structure."

Oliver didn't say anything, but he picked up the envelope and turned it over, his fingers stopping at a spot near the stamp.

Nora noticed. Just to the left of the stamp, there was a faint scratch—not a postmark. It looked like it had been made deliberately with a fingernail.

"Is that a mark?"

"It took me three years to confirm it wasn't just wear from handling." Oliver set the envelope back down. "When Atlas wrote this letter, he left a mark next to the stamp. It lines up with the edge pattern on the personal seal you have."

Nora reached for her pocket on instinct. The coin was there. The personal seal wasn't.

"You need two things to get the painting." Todd added from beside her. "The pattern on the personal seal and the mark on the envelope—both together to open the hidden layer inside the painting. If there is one."

Nora turned to look at him. "How do you know there's a hidden layer?"

"I don't. I'm guessing." Todd's voice was flat. "Atlas always used double backing paper when he framed things. Back in art school, he learned a technique from a Japanese restorer—you can slip something between the two layers and it's completely invisible from the outside."

He paused.

"Even an expert appraiser wouldn't catch it. Not unless they knew how to open it."

The three of them were quiet for a moment.

Nora picked up her phone and scrolled back through her messages with Calla. Three o'clock the day after tomorrow—she'd already sent that. The meeting was set.

"Julian won't just hand over the painting." She turned her phone face-down on the table. "But this afternoon Calla brought it up herself—she said Julian has been holding onto it for someone for too long, and it's time to give it back to its rightful owner."

Todd shifted his chair back slightly. Maybe five centimeters.

Nora didn't catch it. But Oliver did—Todd had pulled himself back from her direction just a little, his body angling slightly toward the other end of the table.

Like he was stepping aside for something.

Oliver's expression didn't change. He picked up his cold coffee cup and put it back down.

"I'm going to meet Calla the day after tomorrow." Nora stood up.

Both of them looked at her.

Nora saw what they were about to say and cut them off.

"I know you're both going to say it's too risky. But Atlas left that painting for me. I'm getting it back myself."

Todd opened his mouth.

"You can come." Nora said it first. "But don't sit next to me."

Todd closed his mouth again.

Oliver paused at the door and glanced back. He didn't say anything—just looked at the dark pattern along Nora's neckline.

Nora tugged at her collar.

"Stop looking. I'm already wearing it."