Chapter 4 – The Necklace in the Red Box
While Andrew was losing his company, Margaret was searching Brenda’s room.
She had not intended to.
At least, that was what she later told herself.
But after seeing the photograph of the necklace circulate online, suspicion began to grow.
Someone had leaked it to the press.
The image was everywhere.
MISSING WHITMORE HEIRLOOM SEEN ON CEO’S MISTRESS.
Margaret entered the guest suite Brenda had occupied for months.
The room smelled of expensive perfume.
Clothes covered the chairs.
Jewelry cases sat open across the vanity.
Margaret searched the drawers.
At first, she found nothing unusual.
Then she noticed a red lacquered box pushed behind a row of shoes.
Inside was a velvet pouch.
Margaret opened it.
The emerald necklace lay in her hands.
For several seconds, she could not move.
It was real.
Every stone.
Every clasp.
Every tiny scratch near the center setting.
Her mother’s necklace had been in Brenda’s room the entire night.
“You shouldn’t be in here.”
Margaret turned.
Brenda stood in the doorway.
Her face had lost its carefully practiced sweetness.
Margaret held up the necklace.
“You said Mariana stole it.”
Brenda closed the door behind her.
“You said you wanted her gone.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“What did you do?”
“What we agreed to do.”
“We agreed to make Mariana uncomfortable. We agreed to pressure Andrew into divorcing her.”
“We agreed she needed to be removed.”
“I never agreed to steal my mother’s necklace.”
Brenda laughed softly.
“Oh, please. You gave me the empty box.”
“To frighten her. Not to frame her for a crime.”
“Is there really a difference?”
Margaret stepped closer.
“You told Andrew you found the box in Mariana’s closet.”
“And he believed me.”
“Because you said you had seen her take the necklace.”
“He wanted to believe me.”
Margaret looked down at the emeralds.
For the first time, she understood how easily Brenda had manipulated them.
Not because Brenda was brilliant.
Because their hatred of Mariana had made them willing.
“What was your plan?” Margaret demanded.
“Andrew would accuse her. She would leave. He would divorce her. Then we would announce our relationship after a respectable amount of time.”
Margaret stared at her.
“And the necklace?”
“I would return it later. Someone would claim it had been found in a safe.”
“You wore it in Monaco.”
Brenda’s face tightened.
“That was a mistake.”
“A mistake that is now on every television screen.”
Margaret moved toward the door.
Brenda blocked her.
“You are not taking that downstairs.”
“Move.”
“If you tell the truth, you will implicate yourself.”
“I will say you deceived me.”
“And I will say you planned everything.”
Margaret’s face went pale.
Brenda stepped closer.
“You hated Mariana long before I arrived. You called her common. You told Andrew she was unworthy of your family. You wanted her humiliated.”
Margaret did not deny it.
“You gave me access to the house,” Brenda continued. “You introduced me to Andrew. You encouraged me to remind him what kind of woman he deserved.”
“I never told you to sleep with my son.”
“No. You only arranged every opportunity.”
Margaret slapped her.
The sound echoed through the room.
Brenda slowly turned her face back.
Then she smiled.
Unlike Mariana, Brenda did not retreat.
She reached for Margaret’s wrist.
“You should be careful,” she whispered. “You no longer have servants to come running.”
Margaret pulled free.
A knock sounded at the door.
Two investigators and a uniformed officer stood in the hallway.
Behind them was the former head of mansion security.
The investigator looked at the necklace in Margaret’s hand.
“Mrs. Whitmore, please place the item on the table.”
Margaret’s breath caught.
Brenda stepped backward.
“What is this?”
“A court-authorized search related to possible theft, fraud, and corporate misconduct.”
Brenda looked toward the window, then toward the hallway.
There was nowhere to go.
The investigator placed the necklace into an evidence bag.
Margaret watched her mother’s emeralds disappear behind clear plastic.
All her life, she had believed the necklace represented the dignity of the Whitmore family.
Now it would represent something else.
A lie.
May you like
A conspiracy.
And the night their family destroyed itself.
