Chapter 50. One Fell Swoop

Carlos raised his brows to edge her on.

“The painting we stole from McCarthy,” she said. “It was the second in a series. We got the first one fair and square, and the secret hidden in it was a key to decoding a secret message. The Brains of the super consortium suspected the secret message it was meant to decode was in the second painting, and they were right. After you went missing last spring, we began working on uncovering and decoding the message behind the second painting. What we got was — you won’t believe it — another key to another secret message.”

Carlos’s face scrunched up in confusion. “I don’t understand.”

“Okay,” Dahlia began again. “So, every painting by Estrella Del Rosa hides a secret passed down through generations of the powerful Del Rosa family. Anything from trade secrets to locations of abandoned fortunes of long-dead Del Rosas.”

“That I know,” Carlos nodded.

“Well, this painting is part of a series,” Dahlia continued. “Let’s just