“Then how do you have it?” she demanded, raising her voice. “That necklace was locked away. It was supposed to be gone.”

“Perhaps you only hoped it was gone,” I replied.

Julian looked at his mother, his brow furrowing as he caught the panic in her tone.

“Where was it supposed to be, Mother?” Julian asked. “I thought you said grandfather’s personal collection was fully cataloged after his death.”

Miranda ignored him, her attention entirely fixed on me.

“Who are you?” she whispered. “Why are you here? What do you want from my family?”

Outside, the faint, muffled sound of the brass band in the ballroom drifted through the heavy walls.

Inside the library, the silence between us felt heavy and suffocating.

I reached up and touched the cool blue stone of the sapphire.

“I wanted to see how you lived,” I said. “I wanted to see the house my grandfather helped build.”

Miranda’s eyes widened, the color draining from her cheeks until she looked as pale as the marble statues in the hallway.

“Your grandfather?” she repeated.

“Elias Cross,” I said.