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Marina’s first, primal instinct was to vehemently decline Nadine’s desperate plea. Every fiber of her being screamed at her to protect the last vestiges of her dignity, to avoid any further confrontation with the woman who had so cruelly overseen her expulsion. She yearned to preserve the fragile peace she had found in her isolated grief. Yet, the sheer desperation in Nadine’s trembling voice, the raw, undeniable urgency of her summons, exerted an irresistible pull. It was a siren song of the unknown, an unsettling curiosity that Marina found impossible to ignore. Against her better judgment, she found herself making her way back to the apartment, her heart a drumbeat of apprehension in her chest. As she approached, a disquieting sight met her eyes: the door, which had been a formidable, locked fortress just days before, now stood inexplicably ajar, a silent invitation to a scene of chaos. Inside, the living room looked less like a home and more like a battlefield, a storm of paper and documents scattered across every surface, a testament to frantic searching. In the midst of this disarray, Nadine sat hunched on the floor, surrounded by the bewildering remnants of Elias’s life. In her hands, she clutched a weathered, wooden box – a familiar sight that sent a shiver down Marina’s spine. Marina recognized it instantly from the top shelf of Elias’s closet, a place she had never thought to explore, a secret repository she had never imagined existed. What hidden secrets had Nadine unearthed from the depths of Elias’s past, secrets powerful enough to transform a bitter enemy into a trembling ally? And what untold truths lay concealed within that unassuming wooden box, waiting to shatter every assumption Marina had about her late husband?
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