Arthur guided Hannah and her young son into his spacious, sunlit private study down the hall.
Margarethe followed them inside, her face unusually pale while her eyes darted nervously around the room.
Arthur motioned for Hannah to sit down upon a comfortable leather sofa near the large windows.
He opened a mahogany desk drawer and pulled out a dusty, framed photograph from long ago.
He walked over and handed the old photo frame gently into Hannah's trembling hands.
The picture showed a teenage girl with warm eyes that looked identical to Hannah's own features.
Arthur: This was my younger sister Rebecca before she vanished without a trace twenty years ago.
Hannah: This is my mother!
Tears welled up in Hannah's eyes as she recognized her mother's soft, beautiful smile immediately.
She could hardly believe that the woman who struggled to pay rent was part of this family.
Hannah: Why did she leave such a wealthy home to live in poverty across the country?
Arthur turned his sharp gaze toward Margarethe, who was standing stiffly near the heavy oak door.
Arthur: That is a question I have been asking myself for two painful decades.
Margarethe: Arthur, this girl could easily be an imposter who bought that locket at a market!
Margarethe: You cannot trust a random maid who just walked through our front door today!
Arthur: Nobody knew about this specific locket because it was a custom gift for Rebecca.
Arthur: I personally carved those small initials into the back when we were just children.
Arthur sat down in an armchair across from Hannah, his eyes shining with deep emotional pain.
He explained that twenty years ago, his father's original will mysteriously vanished from the house safe.
Shortly after that incident, rumors spread that Rebecca had stolen money and fled the estate overnight.
Their father died heartbroken months later, leaving the entire management of the estate to distant cousins.
Arthur: I searched for her for years, but all her records seemed completely erased from existence.
Hannah: My mother always kept a locked metal box hidden inside her bedroom closet, sir.
Hannah: She told me to keep it safe, but I never found the small key to open it.
Arthur: We are going to open that box today and find out what really happened back then.