Chapter 1: The Necklace That Shouldn't Exist

The chandeliers bathed the Parisian palace in liquid gold.

Crystal glasses chimed softly.

Elegant guests exchanged polite smiles.

Everything was exactly as it should be.

At least until Hélène de Rochemont saw the necklace.

The sixty-eight-year-old aristocrat had attended thousands of galas in her life.

Nothing surprised her anymore.

Nothing unsettled her.

Until now.

The young waitress crossing the ballroom wasn't remarkable.

Her black uniform was simple.

Her movements were slightly nervous.

Her face was unfamiliar.

But hanging around her neck was a small silver clasp engraved with two letters:

RM.

The glass slipped from Hélène's fingers.

Shattering across the marble floor.

The sound silenced the room.

But Hélène barely noticed.

Because she knew that necklace.

She knew every scratch.

Every detail.

Every memory attached to it.

Twenty-three years ago, she had given it to her daughter on her twentieth birthday.

Marion.

The daughter who disappeared.

The daughter who walked out after their final argument and never came back.

For more than two decades, Hélène had searched.

Private investigators.

Lawyers.

Old friends.

Nothing.

Eventually, everyone assumed Marion was gone forever.

Perhaps even dead.

Yet here, in the middle of a Paris gala, stood a stranger wearing the one object Marion had taken with her.

Hélène approached carefully.

Her hands trembled.

"Where did you get that necklace?"

The young waitress instinctively touched the clasp.

"My mother gave it to me."

Hélène felt her heartbeat stop.

"Your mother?"

The girl nodded.

"She made me promise never to take it off."

For the first time in twenty-three years, hope pierced through Hélène's grief.

"Who is your mother?"

The waitress opened her mouth.

Ready to answer.

Ready to reveal a name that could change everything.

Then suddenly a man stepped between them.

And the look of fear in his eyes told Hélène one thing.

He already knew the answer.