Chapter 1 - THE PENDANT
Maya Johnson was already on both knees when the ballroom went quiet.
Red wine spread across the marble beside her.
Vanessa Sterling stood over her in an ivory silk gown.
One ivory heel carried the same wine along its lower edge.
Maya reached for a cloth.
Vanessa moved first.
She planted the shoe against Maya’s mouth.
“Lick it clean.”
Maya jerked her head away.
Gasps moved through the tables.
Vanessa grabbed her shoulder and forced her face back.
“You spilled it.”
“I did not.”
“Excuse me?”
“A guest bumped the tray.”
Vanessa’s eyes sharpened.
“You’re a maid. Do what you’re told.”
Maya grabbed Vanessa’s ankle and shoved the shoe away.
“No.”
Vanessa seized her wrist.
Yanked her downward.
Maya winced.
Then stood anyway.
That made Vanessa angrier than obedience would have.
She grabbed Maya by both shoulders and shoved.
Maya stumbled.
The neckline of her black service dress shifted.
A silver pendant slipped from beneath the fabric.
Old.
Oval.
Scratched around the edge.
Vanessa raised her hand.
“Enough!”
A man pushed through the crowd.
Richard Whitmore.
Sixty-three.
Black formal suit.
Silver at his temples.
One of the most powerful businessmen in the room.
Vanessa turned.
Richard slapped her once across the face.
Her head jerked sideways.
The ballroom froze.
Adrien Blackwood, Vanessa’s fiancé, appeared behind them.
“What the hell?”
Richard ignored him.
“Don’t you ever touch her again.”
He turned to Maya.
Caught her lightly by the arms as she lost balance.
“Are you hurt?”
“My wrist.”
Then Richard saw the pendant.
His hands released her.
His face lost all color.
“That necklace…”
Maya covered it instinctively.
“I’ve had it my whole life.”
Richard’s fingers began trembling.
He reached inside his jacket.
Pulled out an old photograph.
A little girl, maybe six, standing beside a fountain.
Around her neck:
the same oval silver pendant.
Maya stared.
Richard looked from the photograph to her face.
Then back.
His eyes filled.
“My daughter…”
Maya stepped backward.
“No.”
Richard looked stunned.
Maya’s voice hardened.
“I don’t know who you think I am.”
He whispered:
“Eleanor.”
Something moved inside Maya.
Not recognition exactly.
A sound from far away.
May you like
Ellie.
She had heard that name in dreams for years.
