Episode 174

The air in the Malhotra study was thick with unspoken questions. Mrs. Malhotra, her face etched with a mixture of concern and a dawning, unsettling realization, held the tarnished silver locket. It was small, intricately carved with a delicate, unfamiliar crest, and it had been tucked away in a forgotten corner of Natasha’s old toy chest. A chest that had been filled with toys from her childhood, before the Malhotras had truly embraced her.

Natasha, meanwhile, was a whirlwind of polite distraction, her laughter a little too bright, her movements