Chapter 31 - Receiving a strange unregistered delivery package at the mansion entrance containing a vintage silver pocket watch with a ticking sound tonight.
At midnight, while a quiet summer rain pattered against the windowpanes, a dark sedan stopped briefly at the front gate.
An unidentified messenger left a wooden box wrapped in faded brown paper on the porch before driving away into the darkness.
Ethan walked down to the porch, picking up the heavy box and bringing it into the dim light of the entry foyer.
He carefully cut the twine binding the package, opening the lid to reveal a heavy, vintage silver pocket watch resting inside velvet.
Engraved on the interior metal lid was a crest that Ethan hadn't seen since his father passed away thirty years ago in Europe.
As he lifted the watch, a soft, distinct ticking sound filled the quiet foyer, accompanied by a folded parchment note in faded ink.
May you like
Written in his late father's precise handwriting were seven chilling words: "I never died in Munich, my son."
Before Ethan could process the sentence, his smartphone chimed with a private satellite call originating from an unlisted European number.
