Chapter 1
The sunlit modern lobby of Vance Global Enterprises suddenly felt suffocatingly cold to Eleanor Vance. Her manicured fingers trembled as she stared down at the small child standing before her in the pristine corporate hallway.
"Where did you get that ring, little one?" Eleanor demanded, her voice losing its usual boardroom authority and fracturing into an urgent whisper.
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The seven-year-old girl blinked her wide, innocent eyes, clutching her woven basket of red roses tightly against her pastel pink cardigan. "Mommy gave it to me this morning before she dropped me off at the building entrance," the child replied simply.
Eleanor's breath hitched in her throat as she struggled to process the impossible words. That exact ruby ring had been locked inside her private estate safe in Massachusetts since the night of the tragic fire twenty years ago.
