Chapter 1 - The Blue Stone Illusion
Beatrice leaned across the marble table, her eyes widening as she studied the invoice.
"What do you mean it's not the purchase he thinks it is, Serena?" she asked, her voice hushed against the gentle murmur of the private salon. "The invoice clearly states eight million dollars paid to an antique dealer in Geneva."
Serena took a slow, measured sip of her Earl Grey tea. The tremor in her fingers was completely gone, replaced by an icy, crystal-clear calm.
"My grandmother never sold the original Tears of the Ocean, Beatrice," Serena explained, her voice steady and smooth. "It was placed in an irrevocable family trust vault in Boston fifty years ago."
Beatrice gasped softly, pressing a hand to her silk collar. "Then what did Richard buy for eight million dollars?"
"A masterful reproduction," Serena replied, a faint, razor-sharp smile touching her lips. "Commissioned by my great-uncle in the 1970s for public museum exhibitions when theft risks were too high. The replica was auctioned off decades later as stage jewelry."
She turned the invoice toward herself, tracing the serial numbers stamped along the margin.
"The antique dealer Richard contacted is a front broker who bought the prop piece for seventy thousand dollars three months ago," Serena continued. "Richard thought he was quietly acquiring my family's heritage to crown his mistress. He was so blinded by his own vanity that he never had an independent gemologist authenticate the stones."
Beatrice let out a low, breathy laugh, shaking her head in sheer disbelief. "So Chloe Davenport is planning to march into the Crescent Moon Ball wearing synthetic sapphire paste and polished glass."
"Worse than that," Serena whispered, opening a sleek black tablet. "Richard used the Sentinel Data corporate acquisition fund to clear the eight-million-dollar wire."
Beatrice’s laughter cut off instantly. Her gaze snapped up, meeting Serena’s cold eyes.
"That's embezzlement," Beatrice murmured. "Sentinel Data is three days away from its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange. If the board discovers unauthorized personal withdrawals, the underwriting banks will freeze the listing."
"Precisely," Serena said, tapping the screen to bring up the shareholder register. "And do you know who owns fifty-one percent of the voting preferred stock in Sentinel Data, Beatrice?"
"Your family's ancestral investment arm," Beatrice realized, her breath catching in her throat.
"My family's trust funded Richard's first server facility when he was working out of a rented garage twelve years ago," Serena stated. "He convinced himself that his brilliance built the empire. He forgot that every single server rack was purchased with my grandmother's money."
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Serena stood up, smoothing the front of her tailored trousers.
"Richard wanted me to wear something brighter for the gala because I've been looking severe," she murmured, looking out at the rain-washed courtyard. "I believe I will give him exactly what he asked for."
