Chapter 389
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Chapter 389:
All the blood drained from Victoria’s face. Her stomach plummeted into a terrifying freefall.
She had blocked Jocelyn. How had she seen it?
Panic screamed through Victoria’s mind, but her arrogant pride refused to break. She clenched her jaw and decided to double down on the lie.
“You are completely delusional,” Victoria snapped into the phone, her voice pitching higher with panic. “The necklace in my photo is a high-end cubic zirconia replica I bought on Fifth Avenue. Not everything revolves around you, Jocelyn p>
𝗖𝗁i𝘯e𝗌е 𝘯o𝗏e𝘭𝗌 𝘁𝘳𝘢nѕ𝘭𝖺𝘵е𝖽 𝗼𝗇 ѕ.c𝗼𝗺
She let out a breathless, mocking laugh. “Are you having paranoid delusions? You see someone with a nice piece of jewelry and immediately assume they stole it from you p>
Jocelyn did not raise her voice. When she spoke, it was with the absolute, crushing certainty of a predator cornering its prey.
“That necklace is a one-of-a-kind Sotheby’s auction piece,” Jocelyn said coldly. “There is a micro-engraving on the inside of the platinum clasp. The initials G.C. Do you really think you can lie your way out of a thirty-million-dollar felony p>
The words hit Victoria like a physical blow to the chest. Her lungs stopped working. The fake bravado shattered completely.
She panicked and pressed the red button, hanging up.
Victoria sat frozen in the café. Her hands shook violently. She reached into her purse and pulled the necklace out, holding it up to the natural light streaming through the window. She squinted, examining the inside of the heavy platinum clasp.
There it was. Tiny, precise, and undeniable. G.C.
A wave of pure nausea washed over her. She shoved the necklace back into the bottom of her purse, zipped it shut, threw a twenty-dollar bill on the table, and sprinted out of the café.
She hailed a yellow cab and screamed at the driver to take her to the Stein family townhouse on the Upper East Side.
Back in the penthouse office.
Jocelyn stared at her phone as the call disconnected.
The last microscopic shred of tolerance she had for her bloodline evaporated into thin air.
She opened her contacts and dialed a number she had sworn never to call again.
The phone rang four times before it was answered.
“Jocelyn?” Elouise Stein’s voice crackled through the speaker. She sounded out of breath, calling from the cramped, miserable attic of the Stein townhouse. There was a sickening note of hopeful greed in her tone — she thought Jocelyn was calling to offer her money.
“Shut up and listen to me,” Jocelyn interrupted, her voice cutting through the air like a scalpel.
Elouise gasped in offense.
“Your precious niece Victoria just walked out of my hotel with a thirty-million-dollar diamond necklace,” Jocelyn stated.
Elouise sucked in a sharp breath. The silence on the line was heavy.
But when she finally spoke, her response made Jocelyn’s stomach turn with absolute disgust.
“You are overreacting, Jocelyn,” Elouise hissed defensively. “Victoria is just a girl. She probably just borrowed it to try it on. How dare you use the word ‘stole’ when talking about your own family p>