Chapter 5 - THE DOCUMENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
I hired a lawyer.
Her name was Eleanor Grant.
She specialized in art ownership disputes and cultural property claims.
She listened carefully as I explained the fire, the sale of the workshop, and the wedding.
Then she examined the documents.
“Do you have the original sales agreement?”
“Yes.”
I had kept everything.
My father's invoices.
Insurance correspondence.
Photographs.
Design sketches.
Even the handwritten notebook containing the measurements of every piece.
Eleanor reviewed the agreement.
Then looked up.
“This is important.”
My heart raced.
“What?”
“The acquisition covered the workshop premises, equipment, and specifically listed remaining inventory.”
I nodded.
“The collection wasn't listed.”
“Exactly.”
She turned another page.
“And the insurance records described the collection as destroyed.”
I swallowed.
“So Bellmont couldn't have purchased it?”
“Not under the inventory schedule we have. But we need to examine the full transaction history before reaching a conclusion.”
I nodded.
She continued.
“We should request the company's provenance records and preserve the evidence.”
I looked at the photograph of my father beside his furnace.
For seven years, I had believed his final masterpiece was gone.
May you like
Now I had a chance to recover it.
And I was not going to waste that chance.
