Second Chances

A Night to Remember

He is right, this is why I never gave up on personally taking on cases. I remember the box resting at my feet and ducking down to pick it up.

"Someone left this for you," I tell Nick, and his eyebrows raise slightly.

"Oh? From who ?" He reads the note on the lid.

"A woman. I didn't see her, Cassy told me."

His expression shifts from surprise to somber, now looking at the box like it offended him. Seems like he already guessed who it was from. I hold myself back from asking questions and say :

"You don't seem very happy about it."

"It's- it's nothing, I should go."

He is out of the room before I can process what just happened, it's the first time I see him in such a hurry.

My mood manages to sour even more without knowing why.

Nick's POV :

I close my office door before heading towards my desk and placing the offending box on it. I sit on my leather chair and start drumming my fingers on the table contemplating just throwing it out without bothering to see what's inside or give it a chance. One thing I'm sure of is that nothing good can come out of this box.

I end up sighing because the latter option wins and I open the lid of the box. The first thing I see is a small white envelope then another larger brown one. I take out the small one and open it, I quickly recognize the writing on the paper inside the same as the note glued on the lid.

"Good morning, Nick, I'm sorry for keeping you this morning but I won't bother you again, for now. I'm going back to England, Mother's been begging me to come home for a while. To thank you, I'm sending you this gift. I found it in Father's study. It's to remind you how much he loved you. I hope you like it.

Your loving sister. "

My lips form a thin line and my brows furrowed as I read Adriana's elegant handwriting.

My sister? Is she kidding me?

Adriana was adopted by Diana when she was 6. She was raised like an upper-class girl and still foolishly believes I'm a part of her "perfect" family. I couldn't blame her though, she is only the lovely puppet of her despicable mother. I crumple the letter and dig inside the box again to take out the bigger envelope. I notice the only thing left inside is a picture so I take it out too. My expression softens in surprise. It's... a picture of my mom and William.

She looks happy...

Happier than I've ever seen her in the short time we spent together. Well, they both look happy, I notice as my gaze shifts to the man hugging her. I admit with great reluctance that I feel like staring at a mirror, aren't I the same age now as he was in the picture?

Why did I have to look so much like him?

They're posing in front of a merry-go-round, it's painfully familiar I see now why my mom liked this place so much. One of the most acute memories I have of my childhood is that she loved taking me here, we would ride it together and she would laugh so delightfully like a child. Was she happy because of me or the memories of the lost love of her life?

Not wanting to ponder on the question anymore I put down the picture face down and open the brown envelope.

Oh, more letters, around more than ten of them. I start reading the first one, "Nicholas, you may not know me but my name is Willi-", An almost hysterical laugh leaves my lips as I stop reading immediately and let the stack of letters fall back inside the box.