Let's call it an exit

They met by chance three weeks before all that madness began.

In a simple, crowded café downtown, Sarina was sitting at a table in the corner. A nearly cold cup of coffee sat in front of her, a forgotten sweet roll beside it, and a laptop open on the table. Next to it was a black leather-bound notebook she used for taking notes.

She was so focused on her work that she didn’t notice when someone approached.

“Can I sit here?”

Sarina looked up, surprised—perhaps it was obvious—because the blonde leaning on the table quickly added:

— The coffee shop is packed. All the other tables are taken.

— Oh… yeah. Sure.

The words came out a little jumbled.

— So, what are you doing?

— Finishing up an article.

— And what do you do for a living?

— Archaeology.

The answer came with a hint of discomfort.

— Oh, so you’re exactly whom I needed to meet.

That encounter, seemingly random and innocent, would change so many things in such a short time that it would seem completely unreal.

During their conversation, Sarina discovered that the woman sitting across from her was Olivia Chamberlain, and she possessed exactly what could capture her attention.

She knew something about the lost treasure of Alercón.

Being completely fascinated by everything surrounding the mystery, Sarina was considered the leading expert on the subject. Still, she had never been able to answer the main question:

Where had the treasure gone?

Finding it was one of her greatest goals.

So, you could say that Olivia knew exactly which strings to pull.

According to her, she possessed previously unknown information about the treasure, but lacked the necessary knowledge to analyze it properly.

It seemed unlikely that anything new would come to light about such a well-studied mystery. Even so, the possibility was irresistible.

She accepted.

The following week, she met the diary and Corin.

The diary was old and extremely worn. The pages were yellowed by time, some were missing, and the corners showed signs of wear accumulated over the years. It looked so fragile that it could fall apart at any moment.

Corin was an ordinary woman, about one meter seventy-five tall, with brown eyes and hair, and she walked like someone who preferred to go unnoticed.

She and Olivia seemed very close.

And to Sarina, there was something about that closeness that didn’t feel right.

The entire conversation about the search was relatively straightforward.

Corin would finance the expedition.

Olivia insisted that her name could not be linked to the project, though she never explained why.

Sarina would be responsible for deciphering the clues and locating the treasure.

When they found it, the credit would be split among the three of them.

It was a reasonable agreement.

The only thing that made her uncomfortable was another requirement: there would be no team—just the three of them.

And Sarina would be solely responsible for determining everything needed for the expedition.

After two weeks of preparation—reviewing everything she knew about the Alercón family’s disappearance, trying to decipher the diary, and organizing the necessary equipment—they finally set out.

The weeks that followed were completely insane.

It wasn’t serious, but it was enough to leave everyone’s hearts in their throats and spark a particularly intense argument.

After nearly a week of awkward tension, they finally made up.

At least on the surface, since Sarina still had the same feeling she’d had since the beginning of the expedition.

With tempers calmed and her energy renewed, Sarina went back to working on the journal.

And finally, she managed to decipher the last clue.

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest.

She was on her way to find Olivia and Corin to share her discovery when she heard voices coming from the main tent.

“We’re running out of time.”

It was Corin’s voice.

“I know. But until she finds the answers, we’re stuck here.”

Olivia’s impatience was evident in her voice.

Sarina froze.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m not just talking about that. We made a deal, remember? And the contract is about to expire.”

There was something sharp in Corin’s voice that didn’t seem to fit with her reserved demeanor.

“Please, love. Just one more week.”

The word hit Sarina like a blow.

Love.

So that was it.

“That idiot has already decoded almost everything. Only the main clue is left. Even if she doesn’t finish, we’ll be able to use what she’s already discovered to figure out the rest on our own.”

Olivia’s voice trailed off at the end of the sentence, as if she had moved too close to Corin.

“One week,” Corin replied, her voice trembling. “And then we’ll be rid of her. That’s the deadline.”

A low sound of approval reached Sarina’s ears.

She didn’t need to see to understand what was happening.

But she remained motionless.

In shock.

The last few months had been a carefully constructed lie.

Every smile.

Every compliment.

Every promise.

All planned.

When she finally managed to move, her mind was still trying to process it all.

Panic began to spread through her veins.

She had one week.

Seven days separated her life from her very death.

She had to disappear.

And she had to do it before anything got out of control.

As quietly as possible, she returned to her tent.

She needed to think and come up with a plan.

Sarina had always been an organized woman. Methodical.

If she wanted to survive, she would need to rely on those qualities more than ever.

It was already past two in the morning when Sarina finally got up.

Her mind was still racing.

Carefully, she picked up one of the flashlights. The battery was low, producing only a faint, flickering yellow light—just enough to see without risking waking anyone up.

She stepped out of her tent and walked slowly toward the work tent.

Now, as she surveyed the layout of the camp, something caught her attention.

That tent was located directly across from hers.

As if Olivia and Corin wanted to keep everything inside it as far away from her as possible.

Sarina only realized she was holding her breath when she stepped inside and took a deep breath.

For months, she had spent countless hours there, studying the diary, deciphering clues, and trying to retrace the Alercón family’s steps.

Before, it all seemed like an adventure.

Now it seemed like a trap.

He had allowed the passion he’d harbored since childhood for the Alercón family’s history to completely cloud his judgment.

This time, he would use that knowledge to his advantage.

Finding the diary wasn’t difficult.

Nor was the leather notebook where she recorded her observations.

Nor were the stacks of papers filled with notes, hypotheses, and translations.

All of that would go with her.

But she had to be careful.

Nothing could indicate that anything had changed.

Only one more piece was missing.

The locket.

Small, old, and seemingly insignificant.

Corin had even teased her when she insisted on keeping it, but she’d ended up keeping the object anyway.

That afternoon, while analyzing the latest clues from the diary, Sarina had come across a curious reference.

Some lockets were mentioned in the texts.

The descriptions matched almost perfectly with the object they had found.

She almost shared this discovery when she overheard the conversation.

The question now was:

Where had Corin hidden the medallion?

Sarina turned the entire tent upside down.

Boxes.

Backpacks.

Maps.

Equipment.

It wasn’t until she’d been searching for a while that she remembered a small wooden box.

Corin had always been overly protective of that object.

The problem was that the box was probably in their tent.

Taking a deep breath, she crossed the camp once more.

Every step seemed too big.

Every shadow seemed to be watching her.

When she finally reached Olivia and Corin’s tent, it took her a few seconds to work up the courage to go inside.

Inside, there were clear signs of a life they shared.

Small details that explained the intimacy she had taken so long to realize.

The wooden box was exactly where she had imagined it would be.

And inside it, she found the locket.

It was surprisingly heavy.

More importantly, she now possessed something that Olivia and Corin didn’t know she had.

Perhaps the most important piece of the entire puzzle.

That night, as she watched the object reflect the faint light of the flashlight, a plan began to take shape.

She would disappear.

Not just from the island.

From the map.

From Olivia and Corin’s lives.

From everything.

She would take with her every real clue about Alercón’s lost treasure.

When she was done, no one would be able to tell fact from legend.

The two of them would spend the rest of their lives chasing ghosts.

And she would never be found.

Over the next few days, Sarina worked meticulously.

Every detail had to seem real.

She laid a false trail of clues.

She altered notes.

She swapped out documents.

She created misleading interpretations.

She put together a perfect puzzle that would lead Olivia and Corin to the wrong place.

At the same time, she prepared her own escape.

When everything was ready, a seemingly accidental fire would destroy the camp.

The evidence would vanish.

The traces would vanish.

And Sarina would vanish along with them.

It hadn't been easy.

All that week, Sarina had to put on a facade of normalcy.

Pretend she hadn’t heard the plans for her death.

Every minute spent with Olivia and Corin was a test of endurance.

But she endured it.

Because she intended to get off that island alive.

The night before the escape, she finished making all the preparations.

The suitcases.

The documents.

The genuine notes.

The original diary.

The locket.

The escape routes.

She had enough tickets to disappear multiple times, traveling through different cities, states, and even countries if necessary.

But there was something even more important.

Something that made him have to control himself so he wouldn’t laugh every time he looked at Corin.

They had believed the lie.

The opportunity arose the morning after he overheard that conversation.

“Girls, I think I finally did it!”

Her voice was brimming with carefully calculated enthusiasm.

Olivia looked up.

“Did what?”

She tried to sound indifferent.

But the sparkle in her eyes gave her away.

Corin remained silent.

Even so, Sarina noticed the way she leaned forward slightly.

“I’ve decoded the last clue.”

She placed the fake diary on the table.

It took many hours just to produce that copy.

Every smudge.

Every note.

Every crease.

Everything was carefully reproduced.

“That’s great news,” said Olivia.

“And where does it take us?”

“Judging by the current maps, not too far from here. Maybe an hour by boat.”

Sarina pointed to a region marked on the pages.

“I just have no idea what we’ll find there.”

She saw the exchange of glances.

Brief.

But revealing.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Corin.

It was the first time she had spoken during the entire conversation.

“I’ll make sure everything works out.”

Shortly afterward, the issue of supplies arose.

A ridiculous excuse, considering they had enough supplies to last a few more weeks.

But it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that they were leaving.

And that she would finally be alone.

Less than two hours after the couple left, Sarina began her own escape.

She carried her bags to a small boat hidden among the trees near the dock.

Everything was already prepared.

The motor.

The fuel.

The provisions.

The fake documents.

She took one last look at the camp.

Without hesitation, she cut the mooring lines.

The boat began to drift slowly away from the shore.

Sarina didn’t look back again.

The clues had vanished.

The investment had disappeared.

And the only person capable of finding it had vanished into thin air.

Taking with him all the secrets they had spent years trying to uncover.

For nearly two years, Olivia and Corin searched for answers.

They looked for clues about Sarina.

They looked for clues about the treasure.

They scoured antique markets, private collections, museums, underground auctions, and even the black market.

Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

It was as if, overnight, both Sarina and the Alercón family heirloom had ceased to exist.

As time went on, the name Sarina Lahal became little more than an occasional topic of conversation in specialized circles.

A story.

A rumor.

An unanswered question.

It wasn’t until three and a half years later that they got their first glimpse of what might actually have happened.

It was at an extremely exclusive charity event.

Business leaders.

Politicians.

Collectors.

People whose influence spanned borders.

Olivia and Corin were chatting with some guests when the room seemed to change.

Not literally.

But in the way a room changes when someone walks in and immediately draws everyone’s attention.

Sarina Lahal.

She walked through the main doors wearing an elegant navy blue dress, accessorized

sorized with understated silver jewelry.

There was something different about her.

It wasn’t just her appearance.

It was her poise.

Her confidence.

The way she filled the space around her.

She talked to important people as if she’d known them for years.

She smiled.

She danced.

She moved through the ballroom with a confidence neither of them could remember ever seeing before.

The woman they had manipulated seemed to have vanished.

In her place was someone completely different.

A few hours later, inevitably, their paths crossed.

For a few seconds, none of the three said anything.

Olivia was the first to break the silence.

“Why?”

Sarina raised an eyebrow.

“You’ll have to be more specific.”

It was Corin who answered.

The curiosity that had built up over the years finally burst forth.

“Why did you do that? Why did you disappear? And the treasure?”

She took a step forward.

“Did you find it?”

Olivia added:

“Because we’ve never heard anything about it. No news. No rumors. Nothing.”

Sarina watched the two of them for a few seconds.

As if she were evaluating something.

Then she smiled.

There was no cruelty in that smile.

But there was no compassion either.

“After everything that’s happened, is that what you want to know?”

The question hit them like a ton of bricks.

“I overheard your conversation that night. I heard every word. I heard you arguing about how much longer you needed me before you decided to kill me.”

Both of them turned pale.

“I spent months believing we were friends.”

Her voice remained calm.

In control.

“And when I found out the truth, I decided I would do something I’d never done before.”

Olivia tried to speak.

Sarina, we didn’t mean to say it that way. We didn’t…

“Honestly?” she interrupted. “I don’t care how you meant to say anything.”

The silence that followed was almost uncomfortable.

“I was only interested in surviving.”

She gave a small smile.

“And I survived.”

Then she turned away.

As far as she was concerned, that conversation was over.

It was the only closure she needed.

“Wait!”

Corin’s voice made her pause for a moment.

“You still haven’t answered.”

Sarina looked over her shoulder.

— I’ve answered enough.

— You haven’t answered the main question.

Corin took a deep breath.

Years of obsession condensed into a single sentence.

— Did you find the treasure?

The entire hall seemed to vanish.

For a brief moment, only the three of them existed.

And that question.

Sarina remained silent.

Then she brought her hand to her neck.

Just for a second.

An almost imperceptible gesture.

Too small to be sure.

But enough to make Olivia and Corin’s eyes widen.

After that, she just smiled.

A calm smile.

Mysterious.

Impossible to interpret.

And then she walked away.

Blending into the crowd as easily as someone disappears into the fog.

When Olivia and Corin tried to follow her, she was already gone.

They searched the ballroom.

The hallways.

The entrance.

The gardens.

Nothing.

It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

Once again.

After that night, Sarina Lahal was never seen again.

And what about the Alercón family heirloom?

Well…

It remained exactly what it had always been.

A legend.

An impossible dream.

A mystery.