She distributed perfectly polished smiles—those she had honed over decades in boardrooms and on red carpets—greeting senators and CEOs… until a tiny, almost impossible detail caught her eye.
A star-shaped pendant, hanging from a fine gold chain, gleamed at the neck of a waitress.
Victoria felt her breath catch.
Twenty-five years collapsed in an instant.
This necklace had been custom-made in Paris the very week her little girl was born.
A one-of-a-kind creation.
She had placed it herself around her baby’s tiny neck on the day of her baptism, whispering:
