Chapter 1 - The Sapphire Around Her Neck
Vincent Romano grabbed Lydia by the collar in the middle of the five-star dining room.
Crystal shattered under the table.
Red wine spread across the polished wood floor like a dark stain.
Guests froze with forks halfway lifted, mouths open, faces pale beneath the chandelier light.
Lydia, the young waitress in a white shirt and black apron, stumbled against the table as Vincent pulled her close.
His black suit was immaculate.
His eyes were not.
They were wild.
Broken.
Furious.
“That necklace was my wife’s.”
Lydia’s hands locked around his wrist as tears spilled down her face. She could barely breathe, but she did not collapse.
Around her neck, beneath the open collar of her uniform, a blue sapphire pendant flashed under the chandelier.
Vincent stared at it like he had seen a ghost.
Behind him, two men in suits rushed forward.
One was Silas Mercer.
Vincent’s closest adviser.
The man everyone in the city feared almost as much as Vincent himself.
But the moment Silas saw the necklace, his face went white.
Vincent’s grip tightened.
“Who gave it to you?”
Lydia’s fingers shook as she touched the sapphire.
Then her eyes moved past Vincent.
Straight to Silas.
She was crying.
Terrified.
But she was not begging.
“She said you were lied to.”
The room went cold.
Silas stepped forward fast.
“Vincent, she’s playing you.”
Lydia’s voice came again, barely above a whisper.
“She told me who killed her.”
Vincent’s hand loosened.
Only slightly.
But enough for Lydia to pull one breath into her lungs.
At that exact moment, an older man in a dark suit entered through the side doors, carrying a leather folder.
Marco Bellini.
Isabella Romano’s private attorney.
He moved through the frozen dining room with one purpose.
His eyes locked on the sapphire around Lydia’s neck.
Then on Vincent.
“The necklace returned,” Marco said. “So the file opens.”
Silas took half a step back.
Vincent finally released Lydia.
She stumbled, catching herself on the edge of the table.
Vincent did not look away from the necklace.
His voice was rough.
“Explain.”
Marco opened the folder.
On the first page was a title written in Isabella’s own handwriting.
October 14 — If the necklace returns.
Lydia touched her bruised collar with trembling fingers.
Silas turned toward the exit.
Vincent saw him move.
May you like
And for the first time that night, his rage changed direction.
👉 But before Lydia walked into that restaurant wearing Isabella’s necklace, she had spent six months hiding from the man Isabella feared most.
