Chapter 6
The missing item was a sapphire bracelet.
Julian’s stepmother, Celeste Cross, claimed it vanished from her private sitting room during a charity brunch.
I had been in the penthouse for forty-eight hours.
My new office was a converted storage room.
My badge still smelled like fresh plastic.
Celeste found me near the service hall and smiled like a knife.
“Abigail, dear, security needs your bag.”
“My bag?”
“The bracelet is missing.”
Julian’s cousin, Graham, stood behind her with two guards.
His eyes were amused.
I looked at Julian.
He had arrived mid-conversation.
For one terrible second, I saw the old suspicion flicker in his face.
Then it vanished.
“No,” he said.
Celeste blinked.
“No?”
“You do not search her bag without cause.”
“She was staff before yesterday.”
“She is staff now. Senior staff.”
Graham laughed.
“Julian, don’t be dramatic.”
I lifted my chin.
“Search my bag.”
Julian turned to me.
“You don’t have to allow that.”
“I know. Search it.”
The guards found nothing.
Celeste’s smile faltered.
Then I pointed to the camera above the sitting room door.
“Pull the footage.”
Graham shifted.
Celeste said quickly, “The camera was down.”
I looked at Julian.
“Convenient.”
He called security.
The camera had not been down.
The footage showed Graham entering Celeste’s sitting room alone.
He left with his hand in his jacket pocket.
Celeste’s face hardened.
Graham laughed again, but this time it cracked.
Julian watched the video once.
Then looked at me.
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“Why?”
“Because guilty people accuse fast.”
Celeste stepped toward me.
“You little maid.”
Julian’s voice went cold.
“Finish that sentence and you leave with your son.”
Graham went pale.
Son.
I looked at Celeste.
May you like
Then at Graham.
The family secret had just opened its first door.
