Chapter 2: The Echo of the Empty Coffin
"Put those away," Julianna barked, but her voice lacked its usual bite. She looked frantic, her eyes darting to the security guards gathering near the entrance.
"Why, Julianna?" Evelyn asked, her voice rising, finally carrying the weight of years of silenced grief. "Are you afraid of what happens when the dolls are reunited?"
The grandmother stepped forward, her posture suddenly commanding. "Arthur gave these to us the night before he 'died.' He told me that as long as these dolls existed, the story you told everyone was a lie."
The realization hit the crowd like a shockwave. Julianna Vance had become a billionaire overnight following the death of her husband, Arthur Vance, the shipping magnate. The funeral had been a grand, closed-casket affair—a somber event that cemented Julianna's control over the Vance shipping empire.
"You're senile," Julianna stammered, backing away. "The funeral… everyone was there. Everyone saw the casket go into the ground."
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"We saw a box," a deep, authoritative voice boomed from the crowd.
The onlookers parted as Marcus Sterling, Arthur Vance’s former business partner and current CEO of Sterling Logistics, stepped into the light. He looked at Julianna with a mixture of pity and cold contempt.
