One Night in Valeria - Chapter 22: Chapter 22

The road to the Devane estate was narrow and winding, flanked by cypress trees that swayed like watchmen in the wind. The town of Eastbridge sat at the edge of Velaria's forgotten map a place untouched by high-rise towers and corporate flash. Everything here felt older. Heavier. Like it remembered things most people worked hard to forget.
Liam drove in silence.
Jessica sat in the passenger seat, notebook in hand but untouched. Her gaze remained fixed on the road ahead, though her thoughts were far from the asphalt.
“Are you sure this is the last address tied to Alex?” she asked finally.
Liam nodded. “My father purchased the property five months after Klara disappeared from the fashion world. The transaction was buried under a false name, but Devane’s signature was there.”
bit her lip. “Why would Dorian Velar buy land for the man who betrayed my mother?”
“That’s what I intend to find out,” Liam said.
They didn’t speak again until the estate came into view.
The Devane house was a worn-out shell of faded grandeur. Vines climbed over its stone façade. The gate creaked with disuse. But the air around it… it still pulsed with memory.
Inside, the house was musty, dim. Sunlight pierced through broken blinds, casting long stripes across dust-covered furniture. A piano stood in the corner keys yellowed, a single red thread tied to the bench like a forgotten promise.
Jessica walked slowly, running her fingers along the wallpaper.
“He lived here,” she whispered. “And died with her name still on his lips.”
She opened a drawer beside a broken mirror and froze.
Inside were dozens of fashion sketches — unmistakably Klara’s. Her mother’s early linework, but with added elements. Bolder. Sharper. Almost angry.
“What the hell…” she breathed, pulling them out.
Liam stepped closer, frowning. “Some of these were released last year. Under a brand called A.D. Atelier.”
Jessica’s eyes widened. “Then someone’s still using his work.”
They looked at each other the truth settling fast. Alex might be dead.
But someone was continuing his legacy.
Stealing hers.
And hiding behind a ghost.
They searched the house in silence, until Liam found a locked cabinet in what looked like Alex’s old study. The key, rusted and dull, still hung on a hook above the doorframe.
Inside were three items:
A bottle of expensive perfume — unopened, labeled “For Klara.”
A leatherbound journal. And a black envelope addressed to “Hale”, sealed with red wax.
Jessica’s hand trembled as she broke the seal.
Inside was a single sentence.
“I couldn’t destroy you, Klara.
So I became you.”
Her vision blurred.
Behind her, Liam cursed under his breath. “This isn’t just legacy theft. It’s identity theft. Someone’s been keeping this alive.”
Jessica nodded slowly. “And they’ve waited for the perfect moment… for me to step into the light, so they can tear me down from the shadows.”
She tucked the envelope into her coat.
“We need to find out who’s behind A.D. Atelier.”
Liam stepped beside her, voice low. “And we will.”
Outside, the wind picked up.
Inside, two heirs to buried legacies stood in the ruins of a man who tried to rewrite history — and realized too late, it had already begun repeating itself.