Golden Gate Park at dawn looked like something from a fairy tale. Mist rolled through the trees, making everything soft and dreamlike. If we weren't hunting for hidden treasure while being stalked by some crazy rich lady, it would have been romantic.
"Remind me why we're doing this at 6 AM?" Zoe complained, shivering in her thin jacket.
"Fewer witnesses," Ryan said, studying the diary. "Plus, the park rangers don't start work until seven."
"That's not creepy at all."
We reached the lotus garden just as the sun broke through the fog. The pond was still, perfect circles of lily pads floating like green plates.
"The diary says 'the lotus that never blooms,'" I read. "What does that mean?"
"Maybe a fake lotus?" Zoe suggested. "Like a sculpture?"
We spread out, searching. I checked every statue, every sign, every weird-looking plant. Ryan examined the bridge while Zoe poked around the edges of the pond.
My phone buzzed. Marcus: Be careful. Someone was asking about you at the coffee shop.
Before I could respond, Ryan's phone rang. His face went white as he answered.
"No, I'm not—Victoria, I told you I'm done—" He looked at me with pure panic. "She knows we're here."
"How could she—"
A black SUV pulled up to the garden entrance. A woman stepped out, and even from a distance, I could tell she was rich. The kind of rich that came with its own weather system.
"Ryan, darling," she called out, her voice carrying like ice across water. "Why don't you introduce me to your new friends?"
My blood turned to ice. "You know her?"
Ryan's face was ghost-white. "She's my aunt."
The world tilted. "Your WHAT?"
"Lily, please, let me explain—"
"Oh, this is precious." Victoria glided toward us in heels that should have sunk into the grass but didn't. "He didn't tell you? Ryan is my nephew. I sent him to find the diary."
Everything clicked into place. The estate sale. Him showing up. The questions about my grandmother.
I'd been played.
"You've been working with her this whole time?"
"No! I mean, yes, but—"
"Save it." I turned to run, but two huge men blocked my path. They looked like they ate protein powder for breakfast and people for lunch.
"Now then," Victoria said, examining her perfect nails. "Let's discuss that diary."
"I don't have it," I lied.
"Ryan told me many things about you, but he never said you were a good liar." She nodded to one of her men, who stepped toward Zoe.
"Don't touch her!" I moved forward, but Ryan grabbed my arm.
"Victoria, stop. They don't have anything to do with this."
"They have everything to do with this. That diary belongs to my family."
"Your father stole from families who were being destroyed!"
Victoria's composure cracked slightly. "My father saved those pieces. Without him, they'd be lost forever."
"Without him, they'd be with their rightful owners!"
My phone rang. Marcus.
"Don't answer that," Victoria commanded.
But I'd already seen the text: Found something about gallery. Call ASAP.
Victoria saw my face change. "What is it?"
"Nothing."
She pulled out her own phone. "Find Marcus Chen. Now."
"No!" I lunged forward. Ryan moved at the same time, shoving one of Victoria's men into the pond.
"Run!" he shouted.
We ran. Through the garden, across the park, Zoe and I sprinting while Ryan dealt with the chaos behind us. We reached Zoe's car and jumped in.
"Drive!" I gasped.
Zoe peeled out, tires squealing. In the mirror, I saw Ryan running after us, but we were already gone.
"Your brother—" Zoe started.
"I know." I called Marcus with shaking hands. "Where are you?"
"The library. Lily, what's happening?"
"Get somewhere safe. Now."
"What's going on?"
"Just trust me. Go to the place we hid when Dad was drunk."
He paused, understanding. We never talked about Dad's drinking before he died, but we both remembered the library basement where we'd hidden.
"Twenty minutes."
Marcus was pacing when we arrived. He grabbed me in a hug that nearly broke my ribs.
"Someone tried to grab me outside work," he said. "I ran."
"This is insane," Zoe said. "We need cops."
"And tell them what?" I asked. "That some rich lady wants an old diary?"
"Tell them about the kidnapping attempt!"
Marcus pulled out his laptop. "Before we do anything, look at this."
He'd found an old newspaper article from 1945: Gallery Reopens After Internment.
There was my grandmother, older, standing next to my grandfather. But the caption was wrong. It called her Hanako Chen, not Nakamura.
"She changed her name," I whispered. "Erased her past."
"There's more. The original gallery building still exists. It's a bubble tea shop now, but the basement has been sealed since the seventies."
My phone buzzed. Ryan: I can explain everything. Please.
Then another: Victoria has your brother's workplace surrounded. Get him out NOW.
Marcus looked out the window. "Black SUV across the street."
"We need to move."
Another text from Ryan: Ocean Beach. South windmill. I'll tell you everything. Come alone.
"It's a trap," Zoe said.
"Maybe." But I thought about the second clue in the diary: Where gold rushes to meet the sea.
Ocean Beach. Where the Golden Gate met the Pacific.
"I'm going."
"Like hell—" Marcus started.
"You two stay here with the real diary." I pulled out the fake one Zoe had made earlier, just in case. "If something happens, call the FBI."
"FBI?" Zoe asked.
Ryan's last text: I've been working with the FBI for months. Victoria doesn't know. Please trust me one more time.
The windmill at Ocean Beach looked like something from a horror movie. Ryan stood beneath it, and even from a distance, I could see the bruise on his face.
"She hit you?"
"Her men did. When I wouldn't tell them where you went."
"Good."
He almost smiled. "I deserve that."
"You deserve worse. You lied to me."
"I withheld information."
"That's the same thing!"
"No, it's—" He stopped, ran his hand through his hair. "You're right. I lied. I came here to use you. But then..."
"Then what?"
"Then I met you. And everything changed." He pulled out his phone, showed me dozens of files. "Everything on Victoria. All her crimes. I've been feeding it to the FBI for months."
"Why?"
"Because my family destroyed yours. And I thought... I thought maybe I could fix it."
My phone rang. Zoe's panicked voice: "They have Marcus!"
The phone went dead.
"You said he'd be safe!"
Ryan was already calling someone. "Martinez? It's Torres. Victoria just grabbed Marcus Chen. Pier 45. She'll want a trade."
He hung up. "The FBI is coming."
"But will they be in time?"
His phone rang. Victoria's voice was cold: "Sunset. Pier 45. Bring the diary and the girl. Or her brother goes for a swim."
I looked at Ryan. "We're going."
"It's a trap."
"I don't care. That's my brother."
"Then I'm coming with you."
"She said—"
"I don't care what she said." His green eyes were fierce. "I'm not letting you face her alone. Not again."
Something in my chest loosened, just a little.
"Okay," I said. "Together."
As we drove toward the pier, I saw something in the rearview mirror. A second diary had fallen out of Ryan's jacket.
"What is that?"
"Something I found in Victoria's house years ago," he said quietly. "Your grandmother had a second diary. One even she didn't know existed."
"What do you mean?"
"Someone else was documenting her life. Someone who loved her. Someone named J.B."
James Blackwood had written about my grandmother.
"He loved her?"
"He did. And that love destroyed both their families."
The pier came into view, Victoria's silhouette sharp against the sunset.
"Ready?" Ryan asked.
"No."
"Me neither."
We got out of the car, walking toward whatever came next.