The room froze.
Emily instinctively grabbed the pendant, trying to hide it again.
“Turn it over,” Victoria demanded.
Emily’s hands shook as she obeyed.
The engraving was still there.
“I & L Forever”
A gasp spread across the room.
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears.
“Where did you get that?” she asked, her voice breaking. “Tell me now. Who gave it to you?”
Emily swallowed hard, surrounded by cold, curious stares.
“I… I didn’t get it,” she whispered. “I was born with it.”
Silence.
Heavy. Crushing.
Victoria blinked slowly, like her mind refused to process the words.
“What did you say?”
Emily’s voice trembled.
“The woman who raised me said she found me… at a church festival. I was little. Crying. I don’t remember it. She said I was wearing this necklace when she found me… and she kept it because it might be the only clue to who I really was.”
Victoria staggered back.
“Her name?” she asked urgently.
“Margaret Hayes,” Emily said. “She passed away. We lived in a small town in Georgia. Before she died, she told me she found me alone… and took me because she was afraid something bad would happen to me. She said she tried to find my family at first, but didn’t know how… and then she got sick.”
Tears streamed down Victoria’s face.
For the first time in decades, she wasn’t a billionaire.
She was just a mother.
“Do you know your real birth date?” she asked softly.
Emily nodded.
