Chapter 2: The Necklace That Was Never Lost
Lucy's hand tightened around the phone.
She recognized that necklace.
She had held it the day her mother was buried.
She had cried over it.
And Julian had told her it was lost during their last move.
It was not lost.
It was sitting in a velvet box inside a mansion that was supposed to be hers.
She ended the call without a word.
Her grandfather was still awake when she knocked on his hotel room door at midnight.
She showed him the screenshot she had taken — the staircase, the orchids, the necklace.
Edward looked at it for a long moment.
"Lucy," he said quietly.
"That staircase.
I recognize it."
"What do you mean?"
"That's the Pinecrest estate.
I had it built with custom ironwork.
I would know it anywhere."
Lucy sat down slowly on the edge of the chair.
"He's living there," she whispered.
"Julian is living in my house."
Edward picked up his phone and made a call.
Two minutes later, he set it down.
"I just spoke to my attorney.
The deed was transferred out of your name fourteen months ago." He paused.
"Lucy…
you signed the transfer papers.
At least, someone signed them using your name."
The room went very quiet.
Then Ethan appeared in the doorway in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes.
"Mama?
Who is that lady in Daddy's pictures?"
Lucy froze.
"What pictures, baby?"
Ethan held up Julian's old tablet — and on the screen was a wedding invitation.
Lucy's name had been replaced with someone else's.
The date on the invitation was this Saturday.
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What Lucy found inside that tablet exposed everything Julian had been hiding for years.
Click the link below to read the full story — the truth is worse than anyone imagined.
