Chapter 1 - THE SLAP BENEATH THE CHANDELIERS.
Emma Cole had spent the entire gala trying not to touch anything expensive.
She stood beneath the chandeliers in a champagne-pink dress, hands clasped tightly in front of her, while donors and executives moved around her as if she had wandered into the wrong world.
Victor Hale towered over her in a black pinstripe tuxedo.
He accused her of taking a diamond bracelet from his wife’s handbag.
Emma shook so hard that her pale headband slipped toward one eyebrow.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Victor struck her once across the cheek.
The sound stopped every conversation in the ballroom.
Emma fell sideways onto the marble floor and covered her face.
No one stepped forward.
Some guests looked shocked.
Others looked away because Victor owned the hotel, funded their charities, and had spent years teaching the room that his anger was more dangerous than their conscience.
Then Claire Donovan ran from the left side of the ballroom.
She dropped beside Emma, wrapped both arms around her, and placed herself between the child and Victor.
“He hit me,” Emma whispered into Claire’s shoulder.
Claire looked up slowly.
“You just struck a child?”
Victor leaned toward them.
“Move.”
When he reached down again, Claire blocked his wrist and forced him back with one sharp defensive movement.
Victor dropped to his knees, stunned more by being challenged than by pain.
Claire stood between him and Emma.
“Touch her again, and I call the police.”
Victor’s face twisted with rage.
Then a woman near the dessert table screamed.
May you like
She had found the missing bracelet.
It was inside Claire’s evening bag.
