Marry My Billionaire Second Husband - Chapter 259

Chapter 259: An Old Diary
It wasn’t huge by any means. The safe was a small square box akin to what one might find in a standard hotel room― just enough to keep some small but important items.

Nevertheless, it was tucked away in such a discreet corner of the room that it would’ve been otherwise difficult to discover at first glance. Paired with the fact that Horace Hawthorne had ordered for the room to be kept just as it was, it wasn’t surprising that there was a thin layer of dust coating the top of the safe. After all, no one dared to rummage through Elaine’s wardrobe.

“A safe?” Matteo asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise.

Amelia pursed her lips. “Whatever is inside mustn’t be important enough for my mother to bring with her when she ran away from home.”

“But important enough to keep it behind a lock,” Matteo finished.

He bent down and looked at the number pad. The rubber on it was starting to turn yellow after the years left out in the open. However, there was no hint as to what the password could be.

His thumb ran across the slightly sticky numbers before turning around to look at Amelia.

“Any guesses?”

“Would her birthday be too obvious?” Amelia asked as she went down on her knees to join Matteo. She keyed in her mother’s birthday, only for a red light to flash across the small screen to signify it was the wrong code.

“Your dad’s birthday?” Matteo suggested. “They were already dating during this time, weren’t they?”

Amelia shrugged. “Can’t hurt to try, I guess.”

She keyed in the dates and once again, it buzzed red. Amelia’s shoulders slumped in defeat.

“There’s probably a maximum number of tries,” Amelia said. “We can’t just try any combination.”

“I can have a professional look at it,” Matteo said, reaching into his pocket for his phone. “This type of safes usually have a master key of sorts or a different way to get it open in case of an emergency. Assuming your grandfather doesn’t have the master key and your mother is the only one who knows of this safe’s existence, the quickest way would be to get it professionally opened.”

Amelia nodded and waited for Matteo to make a call. She didn’t want to disturb her grandfather’s rest for this anyway, especially considering there could be nothing of importance inside this safe.

Matteo stepped aside, and as he did, Amelia found her eyes gravitating back to the number pad again. There was an itch in her chest as her fingers reached for the numbers.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she decided to try her luck. Just one more chance couldn’t hurt, especially if a professional could come to get it open even if the safe ran out of tries.

With that in mind, Amelia decided to risk it and try a different combination of numbers. She thought back to what little she knew of her mother’s life before she married her father, and Amelia soon realized that she frankly knew little to nothing at all!

Her mother had kept things to herself, and whatever little Amelia knew about her was through her father’s words. Even though she had grown up with her mother’s love, the years she spent with her mother were different from the years the latter spent alone as a youth.

There was only one combination of numbers Amelia had in mind. Holding her breath, she quickly jammed the numbers in. To her surprise, there was a short buzz before the screen lit up in green, the door popping open.

“What’s that sound― You got it open?” Matteo asked, surprised. He quickly said something into the phone before ending the call, coming over. “What was the code?”

“My parents’ anniversary,” Amelia said. “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I suppose teenagers in love would generally center their entire lives around their romances, huh?”

She smiled at Matteo, and when he returned a smile as well, Amelia felt her heart flutter. His hand rested on her shoulder, gently squeezing.

“Have a look,” he prompted. “It’s essentially your mother’s time capsule.”

Amelia nodded before pulling the door open and reaching in. Inside, she found just a couple of things― a jewelry box containing a small pink diamond necklace, a dainty silver watch that had stopped ticking, a couple of letters that were haphazardly folded, and a few small leather-bound journals.

Curiosity overwhelmed her, and Amelia chose to pick up one of the journals first, temporarily ignoring everything else. It had a simple brown cover, the leather slightly worn around the edges and the paper inside mildly yellow. When Amelia’s eyes glazed over the words, she let out a small sigh.

“It’s my mother’s handwriting,” she said as she loosely flipped through the pages. Almost every page had something scribbled on it; some even contained illustrations messily left in ink. “This must’ve been her diary.”

Opening to a random page, Amelia began to read. This, from what Amelia gathered, recorded the daily life of her mother during her late teenage years. She would’ve still been in high school at that time, maybe seventeen or eighteen years of age.

Her eyes glazed over the entries, flipping from page to page, entirely engrossed.

“She went to the same school as my uncle,” Amelia said. “Valemont Academy.”

“That’s a common school for the elite in Solara,” Matteo said with a nod. “It is my alma mater as well.”

A giggle burst forth from Amelia’s lips as she read the entry that detailed the shenanigans that happened in their school.

“It seems like my uncle wasn’t such a stuck-up back in his younger years,” Amelia said in good humor.

She flipped the page and continued to read, entranced by her mother’s words― it felt as though she was listening to her mother tell stories during bedtime again.

“In fact, it seems like he had a girlfriend in his last year of high school,” Amelia said, amused. “My mother said that he was pretty smitten by her. I wonder where she is now since his marriage with Annalise is arranged. I doubt it’s the same girl.”

The sound of paper flipping filled the air, followed by silence. Amelia stilled.

“What is it?” Matteo asked, raising an eyebrow when he noticed Amelia’s silence. “Did you find something―”

Then, his eyes widened too when his gaze fell on the paper. The name, simply written in cursive, stood out as though it were in bold.