Chapter 4

The whole Moretti estate was occupied with preparations the day before the induction.

Father reviewed the guest list. Mother sorted Vivian's dresses, gifts, and jewelry. Adrian picked up her friends at the airport, checked in with security, and went over the ballroom personally.

Not one of them asked if I was ready.

My MIT admissions packet was on the console near the front door. I'd put it there several days before, out where anyone could see it. The college seal showed on the envelope. Nobody had said a word. Now lists of Vivian's guests were creeping over it.

I put on different shoes and headed out. There was one possession I wanted before I left New York: the sapphire bracelet Grandma had willed to me.

It was half of a matched pair that had been handed down through the women in our family. Grandma's will left a bracelet to each of her twin granddaughters. Vivian had been permitted to collect hers years ago. My half had remained in our private family vault, to be released when I was eighteen.

I was eighteen. I wanted it on my wrist for my first day at MIT. Whatever happened between my parents and me, I could bring a piece of Grandma along.

The attendant at the vault checked the records and went to retrieve it. He came back with nothing.

“I'm sorry, Miss Moretti. It was taken out yesterday.”

“Who took it?”

After a pause, he turned the withdrawal book so I could read it.

Mother's signature was at the bottom. In the space beside it, where she'd been asked why she was making the withdrawal, she'd written:

Jewelry for Vivian Moretti's induction.

“That can't be right,” I said. “Vivian has her bracelet already.”

“Mrs. Moretti told us Miss Vivian would wear the pair.”

I read the signature again. She'd taken mine and hadn't even told me.

I went directly home.

Vivian was at the drawing room mirror in her induction dress. Two sapphire bracelets shone on the same wrist.

“You have my bracelet?”

She met my gaze in the glass. “Aren't they prettier as a pair?”

“You never asked if you could take it.”

Mother straightened Vivian's sleeve. “They belong together, Natalie. Why leave half a set sitting in the vault?”

“Grandma gave each of us one.”

“Your sister is wearing it for one ceremony. Why do you have to make an argument out of everything?”

I looked from her wrist to the crown sitting on the dressing table. Both diamonds were in it. Mother had come up with a reason for Vivian to have those too.

“You said you'd support her,” Mother went on. “I didn't imagine a borrowed bracelet would become a disaster for the whole family.”

Adrian exhaled sharply. “You have to do this now? The day before the induction?”

“Thirty million dollars. An estate. Shares and a board seat. Half a million that I earned.” My hands shook, and I worked to keep it out of my voice. “You've given her all of that. It still isn't enough?”

“You're going to spend your life in this Family,” Mother said. “The vault will always be here for you.”

“What about Vivian?”

“She might marry into a different Family. She needs her own things to bring with her.”

“And you decided that meant taking mine.”

I walked over and reached toward the bracelet.

Father seized my wrist before I could get to it.

“Don't touch it.”

“It's mine. Grandma left it to me.”

He held me harder. “I told you not to touch it.”

Vivian turned around. “You can take it back, Natalie. I hate having everyone fight over me.”

Her hands stayed away from the clasp.

Adrian caught my other arm and yanked me back. I stumbled into the corner of the marble table. A sharp pain went through my hip, and the favor boxes piled on the tabletop fell across the floor.

Mother rushed over. For an instant, I thought she meant to help me.

She caught Vivian's wrist instead and began checking the bracelets.

“Do you realize how old these pieces are?”

I held my hand against my aching hip while she examined their clasps. She never glanced at me.

“I just want my own bracelet back.”

“You're breaking this family apart over a piece of jewelry,” Adrian said.

“That's enough,” Father cut in. “Vivian is keeping it. We're done discussing this.”

I looked at them one after another. Anything I could say now was something they'd already chosen not to hear.

Upstairs, I packed a suitcase, my laptop, and my passport. Bending to fasten the bag hurt my hip. I zipped it closed and took it downstairs.

No one tried to stop me.

I stayed at a hotel by the airport that night. Before I went to bed, I looked at my phone once. No one had called. No one had asked where I was, or if I'd be home.

The first text came the following morning as I waited for boarding.

Mother: Where are you? We're at the venue.

Induction day had arrived. They wanted me in my assigned seat.

The phone continued to buzz while I gave the gate agent my passport as identification.

“Miss Moretti? You can board now.”

I powered the phone down and stepped onto the plane.

Father could control who wore my bracelet. My next destination wasn't his to choose.