Chapter 1 — The Ring in Clara’s Bag
The diamond ring hit the marble floor before Clara did.
One second, Vanessa was screaming.
The next, she had both hands buried inside Clara’s faded canvas purse, throwing everything onto the mansion floor.
A cracked phone.
A bus card.
Two cough-drop wrappers.
A folded hospital bill.
Then the ring rolled out.
Three million dollars’ worth of diamonds spun beneath the chandelier and stopped against Juliano Ferraz’s polished black shoe.
No one breathed.
Clara stared at it.
Her knees buckled.
“No,” she whispered.
Vanessa slowly turned toward Juliano, triumph flashing across her face before she covered it with shock.
“You see?” she said. “I told you.”
Clara backed against the mahogany front doors.
“I’ve never seen that ring in my life.”
Vanessa gave a sharp laugh.
“Of course you haven’t.”
“I didn’t put it there.”
“Then did the bag steal it for you?”
Three housekeepers stood near the hallway, frozen with towels still folded in their arms.
Mateo, the head of security, watched from beside the staircase.
Juliano said nothing.
He looked down at the ring.
Then at Clara.
Her face had gone pale. Her fingers opened and closed against her skirt as if she could not decide whether to defend herself or run.
Vanessa pointed at her.
“Call the police.”
Juliano lifted his eyes.
Vanessa hesitated.
It was only half a second.
Most people would have missed it.
Juliano didn’t.
“I said call the police,” Vanessa repeated, louder this time.
Clara stepped forward.
“Mr. Ferraz, please. My mother is in the hospital. If I get arrested, she’ll be alone. Please, I didn’t—”
Vanessa grabbed Clara’s wrist.
“Stop using your sick mother to manipulate him.”
Clara cried out.
Juliano’s voice cut through the entryway.
“Let go of her.”
Vanessa’s fingers remained around Clara’s wrist for one beat too long.
Then she released her.
“Fine,” she muttered. “But she isn’t leaving.”
Juliano crouched and picked up the ring with a handkerchief.
He studied the clasp.
A faint smear of red marked the inner edge.
Blood.
His expression changed.
Vanessa noticed.
“It scratched me when I took it off,” she said quickly.
Juliano looked at her hand.
There was no cut.
Vanessa tucked it behind her back.
“Maybe it was earlier. I don’t remember.”
Juliano turned to Mateo.
“Lock the outside gates.”
Clara’s head snapped up.
Vanessa smiled.
Then Juliano added, “And no one leaves the property.”
The smile vanished.
“Juliano,” Vanessa said carefully, “you don’t mean me.”
He looked toward the small black camera above the archway.
“I mean everyone.”
Then he walked toward his office.
As the door closed behind him, Vanessa stepped close to Clara.
Her face remained beautiful.
Her voice did not.
“You should have taken the money when I offered it.”
Clara stared at her.
“What money?”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed.
Then the office monitor came alive.
May you like
And Juliano saw Vanessa place the ring inside Clara’s bag.
But that was not the worst thing the camera had recorded.
