Frank rubbed his fingers together, brow furrowing slightly. “She just acted out of desperation. That’s all.”


    “Are you sure it was just desperation?” Elissa’s tone was dry. “Or was it something she nned all along? Don’t you already know the answer?”


    She couldn’t help but admire his talent for self–deception.


    Her clear eyes held his, unblinking, until Frank finally gave in, sighing in resignation. “Little Elissa, I know she crossed a line. I can make it up to you for her…”


    He didn’t finish; his phone–resting on the table–began to ring.


    Elissa didn’t bother to check the caller ID. From the weary look on Frank’s face, she already knew it was Marcia.


    ‘Sorry, I need to take this.”


    Elissa gave a half–hearted smile. “Go ahead.”


    He’d invited her out to dinner and promised an apology, but before the food even arrived, he was already answering a call from the very person


    who’d started all this.


    She couldn’t help but feel how pointless it all was.


    “Ma’am? Excuse me, ma’am?”


    The waiter had <i>to </i>call her twice before Elissa snapped out of her thoughts. She saw a dish had been set on their table. “Sorry, what was that?”


    “This pendant,” the waiter said, holding out a delicate green pendant. “I believe the gentleman you’re with left it on his chair. Would you mind keeping it for him? Just so it doesn’t get lost.”


    “Of course. Thank you.”


    Elissa took the pendant automatically, about to set it down on the table. But when she nced at it, her mind went nk.


    It was her pendant.


    The very same one that had been stolen from her all those years ago at the orphanage.


    She’d thought about finding it, but she’d been at the orphanage such a short time, she couldn’t even remember the girl’s name who’d taken it. When she’d gone back once, the ce had already been shut down.


    She’d wanted to look, but there was nowhere to start. She never imagined it wouldnd back in her hands so suddenly.


    Before she could process it, the pendant was snatched away.


    Her instincts took over; she lunged to get it back.


    As a child, she had never been able to win these fights.


    But she wasn’t a child anymore. She wouldn’t lose the one thing her parents had left her.


    “Give it back!”


    “Give it back?” Frank looked at her, startled by her intensity, his brow creasing. “That’s Marcia’s. She’s had it since she was a kid. I can’t just give it to you.”


    Elissa forced herself to breathe. “It’s Marcia’s?”


    <i>“</i>Yes,” Frank said, assuming she was just interested in jewelry. He ced a piece of cod on her te. “There’s a charity auction in a couple of days. Come with me. If you see something you like, I’ll make sure you get it. My treat, all right?”


    But Elissa couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Her mind was spinning, focused solely on the pendant.


    “Can I see it again?” she asked, her gaze burning.


    <b>2/3 </b>


    “Of course.” Frank ced it back in her palm.


    Elissa cradled it, tracing her finger along the inside edge. She peered closer.


    Her childhood nickname was engraved there.


    Her father’s handwriting.


    All the love and hope her parents had for her was etched into that tiny charm.


    Little Nine. The wish that she would grow up safe and sound.


    She was certain–this was hers. Not Marcia’s.


    In fact, she realized, Marcia must have been the girl who’d bullied her at the orphanage all those years ago.


    She’d stolen her pendant as a child. Now, as adults, she’d taken her husband, tried to take her job, her project.


    Marcia had spent her whole lifepeting with her for everything.


    Elissa traced the letters inside the pendant, looking up at Frank with a small, cold smile. “Her nickname’s Little Nine, too?”