Chapter 4

I held up the necklace and showed everyone the Crane family crest stamped into the clasp, next to the house jeweler's hallmark. It couldn't be forged.

The faces around me changed at once.

Vanessa's went ugly, then twisted into something meaner. "Isabel! You have some nerve! How dare you steal Mrs. Crane's necklace!"

"I didn't steal it!"

"Still lying!" Vanessa screamed, pointing at me. "You're a nobody! No family, no name. How could you possibly own something like that? If you didn't steal it, how did you get it?"

The whispers started, and every look aimed at me was disgust.

"Stealing from Mrs. Crane? That's unforgivable."

"Where does she get the nerve?"

Someone turned to Nicholas, unsure. "Is she one of yours?"

Nicholas looked at me. Something like doubt crossed his face. Then he turned away and said, coldly, "No."

Vanessa lunged and reached for my throat, going for the necklace.

I dodged.

A second later, someone's foot shot out and caught my ankle.

I went down hard. My arm slammed into the marble, and pain tore up to my shoulder.

"Ah!" I curled around my stomach on instinct. "It hurts!"

Vanessa stepped on my hand and pinned it to the floor.

She stood over me, eyes full of poison. "I'll teach you to lie! I'll teach you to steal!"

She bent down and grabbed the necklace.

"No!"

The chain snapped.

The moonstone hit the floor and shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering like broken moonlight across the marble.

The pain in my arm and my stomach was so bad I couldn't move. All I could do was lie there and watch it break.

I looked for Julian. He'd gone to find Sebastian, and the Crane men were posted at the far doors, too far away to see anything through the crowd.

"Get her out of here!" Vanessa screamed at the Russo men by the door.

"Don't you dare! I'm Sebastian Crane's—"

She slapped me.

Then again.

My face was on fire, and I could taste blood.

"Shut your mouth!" she hissed. "You still have the nerve to drag the Don's name through the mud?"

I looked up at her. "Vanessa, you're going to pay for this."

She laughed like I'd made a joke.

"Isabel."

Nicholas crouched in front of me and held out a hand, as if he were being kind.

"I'm the only one who can help you now. All you have to do is beg."

"You know I've already filed to annul things with Vanessa. It's just not final yet. Apologize, beg for my forgiveness, and I'll take you back."

There was real emotion on his face. It turned my stomach.

I pulled away from his hand and wouldn't look at him. "In your dreams."

His jaw tightened. He opened his mouth to say something else, and then the doors at the far end of the hall swung open.

A tall figure stood in the light.

"The Don is here."

Someone said it in a whisper, like a prayer.

The whole room went silent.