?Chapter 929:


    They both had their secrets. And right now, that made them even.<fna87b> The rightful source is F?nd-Novel</fna87b>


    One day, Luca showed up with a sealed file box in his arms. “Mr. Briggs, here it is—just like you asked. Came from the lowest storage room in the Briggs mansion. Part of your mother’s personal keepsakes. They’ve been sealed up ever since she passed.”


    There was a careful edge in Luca’s voice. Anything to do with William’s mother had always been a delicate topic in the Briggs family—almost like walking on ss.


    William didn’t say anything right away. His mother had died young, and for years, anything tied to her had been left untouched. It wasn’t until he became an adult that he slowly started moving her things out of the mansion—but even then, he rarely opened them.


    He stared at the slightly worn box in silence for a few seconds, then gave a small wave of his hand. “Set it down.”


    Ste, who’d been drawing nearby, paused and came over, curiosity lighting up her face. “What’s in the box?”


    William lifted the lid and showed her. Inside was nothing shy—just some old photographs, a few worn poetry books, a small set of faded jewelry, and random trinkets. Everything inside carried the dusty scent of another time.


    He picked up a hardcover photo album and gently wiped off the dust, flipping it open.


    Most of the pictures were in ck and white, capturing his mother’s elegance in her youth. Ste sat beside him without a word, quietly watching as he turned the pages.


    Later in the album, some color photos appeared—they looked a little more recent.


    One of them showed a ten-year-old William, dressed in a small suit, standing stiffly in the garden of a grand mansion. Behind him bloomed a wall of roses, lush and bright.


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    William’s eyes lingered on that photo. His fingertips traced the rose bushes in the background, his expression softening with the weight of memory.


    “This was taken here,” he said, almost to himself, but loud enough for Ste to hear. “That summer, my mother brought me here to escape the heat. It was… one of the few good memories I have from back then.”


    Ste didn’t say anything. She could hear the quiet nostalgia in his voice—tinged with sadness.


    He went on, voice low, “Back then… growing up in the Briggs family wasn’t easy.”


    Ste looked up, surprised. She hadn’t expected him to open up like this. But wasn’t Dexter, his grandfather, known for doting on him? How could his childhood have been rough?


    William didn’t exin. He just let out a long sigh and changed the subject. He reached into the bottom of the box and pulled something out, then handed it to Ste.


    She took one look and gaspedpletely stunned. “You—how do you have this?”


    Her brow furrowed, confused. Wasn’t the real one still with her? She remembered something simr showing up at an auction months ago, but that one was nothing but a fake. The real one had always been with her, kept hidden away.


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