4. Chapter 3
Serena
“You didn’t have to buy me the dress,” I insist when the driver pulls the car away from the curb.
Though if I’m being honest, I might have cried leaving it behind.
Liam may not have asked yet, but he will, and when he does, I want to marry him in that dress.
“It was so much money,” I say, barely concealing the emotion in my voice.
Liam grins over at me. “You really don’t know how much money I have, do you?”
I purse my lips. “That reminds me, I’ve been meaning to get a look at your financial records.”
“Nice try.” He slips his hand into his suit coat pocket because the man believes in wearing suits the way most people wear t-shirts and relaxed shorts. He pulls out something and hands it to me. “What is it?” I ask, as he closes my hand around the small cylinder.
“A piece of the puzzle. It was shoved in a crack in the tunnel wall. Open it.”
I raise a brow. “You didn’t?”
“Nope.”
“Okay.” I open my fingers to reveal a tiny glass bottle. It’s the length of my thumb and so dirty it’s no longer transparent. I pull out the cork and find a piece of paper jammed inside.
“Here.” Liam hands me a pair of tweezers.
I fish out the paper, but it’s so old and fragile it rips in half. I hand Liam the first half, then go back for the second. He lays them flat on the seat between us.
LH. My love, where our hearts reside, may our memories and dreams forever abide. Once in your arms, time stood still. Close in my dreams, now far from me, no path leads back to what we were. I’m a shadow now, a fleeting trace. Till once more I see your face. CM.
Is it a riddle? Or…“It’s a love note,” I say. I don’t know why I expected more. Like coordinates to the actual treasure this time.
“It’s a beautiful one,” Liam says, then leans back in his seat and rubs his chin. “Cillian Moore was never married.”
“But he must have been in love once. And this treasure was for her. LH. Do you know who that was?”
Liam shakes his head. And for the rest of the drive to his secret house, we each research the initials on our devices.
Two hours later, sitting in front of the willow tree mural, I find it.
“Lydia Hale.” I sit forward.
Liam jumps over the couch and looks at my phone.
“Who is she?”
“Well, she could have been no one, but they were rumored to be childhood friends. It would make sense he fell for her but could never return to her after all he’d done.
He could only love her from afar. The next clue says 'where our memories and dreams forever abide.
' Do you think he meant where they grew up?
Or where they both ended up, able only to dream of one another? "
"We don't know where he ended up. If we did, this wouldn't be a treasure hunt." Liam scrubs a hand through his hair, as exhausted as I am by our travels. “Let's find her.”
An hour later, we find what we need. Her old family home belongs to someone else now, but her last known residence is now a jewelry shop.
Interesting. What better place to hide treasure than a jewelry shop that’s practically one large bank vault?
It’s too late to go anywhere tonight, but I have a good feeling about what we’ll find tomorrow.