Chapter 1
Isabella did not ask the bodyguards to touch anyone else.
She picked Sophie up instead.
Her daughter wrapped both arms around her neck and buried her face against Isabella’s silk blouse.
“I didn’t take it.”
“I know.”
Across the gallery, Preston pushed himself upright beside the overturned loupe cart.
Diane touched her cheek and stared at Claire.
“That scanner is wrong.”
Claire’s expression stayed professional.
“It isn’t.”
She placed the replica onto a velvet tray and walked to the supposedly empty presentation case.
The real brooch remained locked onto its secured mount beneath the inspection lamp.
Same shape.
Same colored stones.
But not the same piece.
Isabella looked at Diane.
“You accused a three-year-old of stealing something that was still inside the case.”
Diane recovered quickly.
“Then someone handed her a fake.”
Sophie shook her head against Isabella’s shoulder.
“Aunt Diane did.”
Preston immediately spoke.
“She’s three.”
Isabella turned toward him.
He stopped.
That sentence was going to matter later.
Claire examined the replica again.
“This isn’t costume jewelry.”
“What do you mean?” Isabella asked.
“It’s professionally made.”
Claire rotated the brooch beneath the scanner.
“Synthetic stones. Correct dimensions. High-grade setting. Someone spent real money making this look convincing from a few feet away.”
Diane laughed nervously.
“This is ridiculous.”
Claire ignored her.
“There’s another problem.”
Isabella waited.
Claire pointed toward the rear clasp.
A tiny inventory mark had been engraved beneath it.
Not the Caradonna collection number.
A workshop code.
Claire recognized the format.
“I’ve seen replicas made like this before.”
“Where?”
Claire looked at Preston.
“At a restoration shop your family started using last year.”
Preston’s face tightened again.
May you like
Isabella had defended Sophie.
Now she needed to understand why someone connected to her own family had commissioned a professional fake and put it in her daughter’s pocket.
