CHAPTER 1: A Girl Who Did Not Belong

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Lena froze with the tray in her hands. She felt the weight of a hundred expensive stares pressing into her uniform. The guests were used to servants being invisible; now she had become the center of the room.
"I don't know," she said softly. "I've had it for as long as I can remember. I was told I wore it as a child."
A woman near the front gave a small, uncomfortable laugh, as if hoping the moment would pass. It did not. Thomas stepped away from the podium and came down the stairs with the slow caution of a man walking toward a ghost.
Lena wanted to retreat, but her legs would not obey. She had grown up in rented rooms, foster kitchens, and back hallways. Rich men did not cross ballrooms for girls like her. Not unless something had gone wrong.
Thomas stopped a few feet away. His eyes were wet, but his voice stayed low.
"May I see it?"
Lena lifted her wrist. On the inside of the bracelet, half-hidden by age, were three tiny engraved letters: E.V.R.
Thomas covered his mouth with one trembling hand.