Chapter 1
“Give me that bag.”
Victoria Hale stood between five-year-old Lily Carter and the front doors of the mansion, her white satin gown falling perfectly to the floor while the little girl held a floral handbag against her chest with both arms—small fingers locked around its faded handle as though the room itself might pull it away.
The bag had belonged to Lily’s mother.
Rachel had been gone for three years, but Lily still carried pieces of her in the careful, quiet ways children do—through an old photograph, a remembered perfume, a sentence repeated in a small voice. Daniel kept the handbag protected, and Lily was allowed to take it out only on special occasions.
Tonight, she had brought it downstairs.
Victoria took one step closer.
“Lily, I’m not asking again.”
The child backed away, the handbag pressing into her dress. Victoria had said Lily needed to grow out of things like this—out of old belongings, old stories, old attachments that did not fit neatly into the new life Victoria was arranging around the house.
May you like
Lily shook her head.
Victoria’s hand closed over the bag.
