Chapter 1: The Eyes He Could Never Forget
No one answered Caleb's question.
The ballroom remained frozen.
Sloane twirled the scissors between her fingers as though nothing unusual had happened.
"The little girl wandered into the party," she said with a careless shrug. "I simply reminded everyone that staff should know their place."
Nora rushed to Lily, dropping to her knees.
"I'm so sorry, sir. My babysitter canceled. She never left the kitchen entrance. She wasn't bothering anyone."
Lily buried her face against her mother's shoulder.
"My bunny got scared," she whispered.
Caleb never looked at Sloane.
He knelt in front of Lily instead.
"Can I see your face?"
The little girl slowly looked up.
Those eyes.
Golden flecks surrounding deep brown irises.
Exactly like Claire.
Exactly like the little sister he had buried three years earlier—or so he had been told.
His voice softened.
"What's your name?"
"Lily."
"And how old are you?"
"I'm three."
Caleb's heartbeat quickened.
Three years.
The same amount of time Claire had disappeared overseas during what his family called a tragic accident.
He noticed a tiny silver locket around Lily's neck.
It was old.
Scratched.
Painfully familiar.
"Where did you get that necklace?"
Nora hesitated.
"It belonged to Lily's mother."
Caleb frowned.
"You mean... you?"
Nora slowly shook her head.
"I adopted Lily after her mother died."
"My sister and I worked together years ago."
"She asked me to protect her little girl if anything ever happened."
The room became impossibly quiet.
Caleb stared at the locket.
May you like
He had given the matching one to Claire on her eighteenth birthday.
Only two had ever existed.
