I rode back to the city in a daze, my fingers tracing the cool jade of my mother's bracelet. The weight of it on my wrist was both comforting and unsettling—a piece of my past returned, but at what cost?
Three hundred million dollars. The sum was so enormous it didn't feel real.
My apartment felt empty and cold when I finally arrived home. I kicked off my heels and collapsed onto my couch, staring at the ceiling. Images from the night kept replaying in my mind: Sebastian's calm authority at the auction, Ivy's blood-stained lips, Alistair's resentful glare as he followed his wife to the ambulance.
I couldn't sleep. At dawn, I drove to the cemetery where my mother was buried. The morning air was crisp, dew glistening on the grass as I approached her headstone with fresh flowers.
"I got it back, Mom," I whispered, kneeling beside the grave. "Your bracelet. I couldn't let them take this from us too."
