Chapter 127 Chapter 127
Sophia’s POV
I stood there, blood dripping from my split lip, my face throbbing from the beating I’d just taken, and looked at my father’s furious face.
I knew the necklace was mad expensive. Custom-made, rare pink sapphire, platinum setting, it was worth a fortune.
But I also knew that since I couldn’t actually prove Hailey took it, my father would be pissed at me for misplacing something so valuable.
So I did what I always did when backed into a corner, I went on the offensive.
“Of course,” I said bitterly, wiping blood from my mouth. “Of course it’s always about your turfs and money with you. Never about what things actually meant to people. Never about the sentimental value, the memories, the fact that it was my mother’s favorite piece!”
“Sophia….” my father started, his voice warning.
“No!” I interrupted, my voice rising. “You don’t care that it was the last thing she promised to give me! You don’t care that it was supposed to be mine on my eighteenth birthday! All you care about is the dollar amount, the property value, the….”
“That necklace cost up to ten million dollars!” my father roared, his voice shaking the room.
Everyone fell silent. Even I stopped talking, shocked by the number.
Ten million dollars. I’d known it was expensive, but hearing the actual amount made my stomach drop.
“But that’s not why it’s important,” my father continued, his voice still loud but more controlled now. “That jewelry…that specific piece….I gifted it to Elena when she was pregnant. When she was carrying you, Sophia. It was meant to celebrate your coming into the world. It has meaning far beyond its monetary value.”
I felt tears stinging my eyes.
“The sapphire necklace is important,” my father said firmly, looking around at everyone in the room. “And it must be found. Today. Now. We search everyone and everything until we locate it.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if you found it in my bag,” Hailey said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “Or in my mother’s bag. Or Benita’s. Because that’s what Sophia has been planning all along, right? Plant it on one of us and then ‘discover’ it during a search to prove we’re thieves?”
“I didn’t plant anything!” I protested. “It’s really missing! I wore it to sleep last night because I wanted to feel close to my mother. And when I woke up this morning, it wasn’t on my drawer where I’d left it!”
“Convenient,” Hailey muttered.
“It’s the truth!” I insisted, turning to my father. “I swear, Dad. I wore it to bed. I took it off and put it on my nightstand drawer before I fell asleep. And this morning it was gone.”
My father studied my face, trying to determine if I was lying.
“Fine,” he said finally. “We search. Everyone. Starting with the people who are supposedly leaving this morning.”
He turned to Barbara and Benita. “Your bags. Open them. Now.”
Barbara’s face flushed with anger. “You think we stole from your daughter?”
“I think we need to eliminate possibilities,” my father said coldly. “Your bags. Now.”
Barbara and Benita exchanged glances, then Barbara gestured to their luggage by the door.
“Fine. Search them. You won’t find anything because we didn’t take anything.”
Lorenzo and Louis began going through the bags methodically. Clothes, toiletries, personal items, everything was pulled out and examined.
But they found nothing.
“Satisfied?” Barbara asked icily.
“Not yet,” my father said. He turned to Hailey. “Your bag too. And your room.”
“Damien, you can’t be serious….” Hailey started.
“I’m completely serious,” he said. “If you didn’t take it, you have nothing to worry about. Your bag. Now.”
Hailey’s face was a mixture of hurt and anger, but she went to her room and returned with her bag, tossing it at Lorenzo’s feet.
“There. Search away. Tear it apart if you want. You won’t find anything because I didn’t take the damn necklace!”
I watched as Lorenzo went through Hailey’s bag just as thoroughly as he’d searched the others. I was so sure he’d find it. So certain that Hailey had taken it, that it would be hidden in some pocket or wrapped in clothes.
But as item after item was removed and examined, there was no necklace.
“Check her room too,” I demanded, desperation creeping into my voice. “Maybe she hid it somewhere else. Under the mattress, in a drawer, somewhere…..”
“Sophia, enough,” my father said, but he nodded to Louis. “Check her room. Thoroughly.”
Louis and Lorenzo went to Hailey’s room while the rest of us stood in tense silence.
I could feel everyone’s eyes on me, accusing, angry, skeptical.
They thought I was lying. Thought I’d made the whole thing up or misplaced the necklace myself.
But I hadn’t. I knew I hadn’t. It had been on my nightstand drawer when I fell asleep, and it was gone when I woke up.
After what felt like an eternity, Louis and Lorenzo returned.
“Nothing,” Lorenzo reported. “We checked everywhere. Under the mattress, in all the drawers, the closet, the bathroom. No necklace.”
I felt my stomach drop. “That’s impossible. She must have hidden it somewhere else. Somewhere outside her room….”
“Or,” Hailey interrupted, her voice cold, “you’re lying about it being stolen in the first place. Maybe you lost it yourself and you’re too embarrassed to admit it. Or maybe you hid it somewhere and forgot where. Or maybe this whole thing is some sick game you’re playing.”
“It’s not a game!” I screamed. “The necklace is really missing! Someone took it!”
“Well it wasn’t us,” Barbara said firmly. “You’ve searched our bags, searched Hailey’s room. We don’t have it. So either it’s somewhere else, or you never had it to begin with.”
I looked at my father, pleading with him to believe me.
“I’m telling the truth, Dad. I swear I am. The necklace was there last night and it’s gone this morning.”
My father’s expression was unreadable. “Then where is it, Sophia? If none of them took it, and it’s not in your room, where could it possibly be?”
I had no answer. Because I genuinely didn’t know.
The necklace was gone. Really, truly gone.
And I had no idea who had taken it or where it was.