Chapter 17
Early in the morning, a procession of haute couture outfits was delivered to Nathaniel’s penthouse.
His assistant had never seen Nathaniel so meticulous-hours spent trying on suits, as if even a wedding wouldn’t have required this much effort.
The final outfit selected, Nathaniel retrieved an antique mahogany box from the safe-its gold-inlaid craftsmanship alone could fetch a million at Christie’s. They say he’d specially commissioned the box at auction just to house one particular
jewel.
Just how priceless could the jewel be?
The lid lifted, revealing a sapphire bracelet nestled in velvet.
A sapphire bracelet?
The assistant stifled a gasp. For a man of his discernment, the piece was frankly pedestrian-worth no more than six figures at most.
Yet Nathaniel cradled it like a holy relic, fingers tracing stones worn smooth by a decade of secret handling.
Ten years to the day.
The memory struck like a shiv-his stepbrother’s goons pinning him in that stinking alley, brass knuckles gleaming as they debated which tendons to sever first. Then-her. That slip of a girl materializing from the shadows, outmaneuvering them with nothing but razor wit and a fake police siren app.
As the thugs fled, she’d pressed this bracelet into his bleeding palm-“So you’ll remember today wasn’t all bad.”
The design was a celestial puzzle-his sapphire sun-strand interlocked with her ruby moon-strand to form a single harmonia bracelet. Separate, they were elegant. United, the hidden clasp transformed them into an unbreakable mandala -two halves of a coded oath.
When he asked what she wanted in return, she’d grinned, “A pretty guy like you? How about pledging yourself to me?”
He knew she’d jested. But he remembered.
A brutal head injury had left him with a concussion that blurred her face in the alley’s gloom, their exchange fragmented.
For years, he’d searched. Every anniversary, he returned to that alley.
Three years ago, fate brought him there again-ambushed once more, only to encounter Emily.
He remembered it vividly-her watching from her car like a spectator. Had his face not caught her eye, she’d never have stepped out, let alone saved him.
Emily was nothing like that girl.
Where the girl had been sunlight, Emily was shadow.
Her “rescue” had bound him to her for three years.
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Yet it also led him to the one he’d sought for a decade.
At the Sinclair family banquet, spotting the ruby chain on Isabella’s wrist, recognition struck instantly. “Deliver this to the
Sinclair estate.”
The bracelet’s rightful owner was found. Seeing it, Isabella would surely remember.
As the assistant bowed, accepting the case, Nathaniel added, “Send the ten finest pieces from Hawthorne Jewelry’s new collection as well. Let her choose.”
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Lucia Morh is a passionate storyteller who brings emotions to life through her words. When she’s not writing, she finds peace nurturing her garden.