Chapter 1 - The BagThe chandelier light glittered across Victoria Langford’s diamonds as she pulled the pale strap.
“Let go of it right now!”
Eight-year-old Lily Reed lay safely against the polished marble, gripping the silver clutch with both hands.
The bag shifted.
Lily slid only a few inches.
But no guest moved.
Men in tuxedos stared.
Women in designer gowns covered their mouths.
Several raised their phones.
Lily’s eyes were red from crying.
“Please stop! This isn’t your bag!”
Victoria looked down at her with the cold disgust reserved for people she believed did not belong in rooms like this.
“You stole it from my private suite.”
“No.”
“Then why are you holding it?”
“My mother gave it to me.”
A few guests exchanged glances.
Everyone at the Langford Foundation Gala knew who Lily’s mother had been.
Emma Reed.
A poorly paid event assistant who died the year before after being publicly accused of stealing from the foundation.
Victoria leaned lower.
“Your mother was a thief.”
Lily’s face crumpled.
Then something inside her hardened.
She lifted her head.
“My mother hid the proof inside before she died.”
Victoria stopped pulling.
Her anger vanished.
May you like
Her lips parted.
And for the first time that evening, the richest woman in the ballroom looked afraid of a child.
