Chapter 938

Chapter 938:
Lance didn’t question her. He just nodded and watched as she disappeared up the stairs.
As soon as she returned to her room, she locked the door behind her and rushed to her desk, flipping on the lamp.
She pulled out the necklace again and took a closer look. The craftsmanship was next level—the intricate vine patterns, every detail so precise. And that bump? Hidden perfectly within the lines of a leaf. No way you’d spot it unless you were searching for it.
Was it a switch?
Her pulse jumped. Her mind shot back to what her adoptive parents had told her about her mom’s death. Her mom had been involved in some shady research, swiped some important files, and ended up targeted. What if this pendant held a clue to those missing files?
Pushing the thought aside, Stella focused. She gently pressed her fingernail against the bump.
Click. The soft sound was barely audible, but it confirmed it—she’d triggered something.
The white gold vines, which looked like a single solid piece, split open along a nearly invisible seam, revealing a small hollow compartment inside.
Her heart thudded in her chest. With steady hands, she pried the pendant open. Tucked neatly inside was a tiny electronic chip.
Stella held her breath as she carefully used a pair of tweezers to pull the tiny chip out.
To even read what was on it, she’d need a specific kind of card reader—but of course, she didn’t have anything close to that on hand.
She tried searching for one online, only to hit a wall. Readers that matched the chip’s size weren’t just rare—they were practically nonexistent.
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The fact that it needed a custom reader just screamed “classified,” and Stella knew right then—it wasn’t some run-of-the-mill memory chip. It was big. With no way to access it right now, she had no choice but to gently slide the chip back into the pendant and seal it up like nothing had happened. She sent a quick text to Sharon, hoping she might know where to dig up a reader that small or oddly specific.
Sharon had no clue what the reader was for, but she promised to keep an eye out anyway.
With that settled for now, Stella sank down onto the edge of her bed, staring blankly into space. She’d had this necklace for years. Years. And not once had she ever noticed a hidden switch.
It meant so much to her that she barely ever wore it—she’d always kept it locked away in its box like something sacred.
If it hadn’t accidentally fallen out of her suitcase… and if Lance hadn’t picked it up… she might’ve gone her whole life without ever realizing the pendant held a secret.
That thought hit her hard—like the universe had been nudging her the whole time, waiting for the right moment to reveal something.
.
.
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