Chapter 1 - THE DRESS THAT SHOULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED
The first thing Rafe Santangelo noticed was the blood on Billy Ror's hand.
The second was the wine dripping from her hair.
And the third was his fiancée smiling as though she had just accomplished something wonderful.
"Sabine."
His voice carried across the Grand Ballroom.
Sabine Voss slowly turned.
"Rafe, darling. You're late."
Three hundred guests watched him approach.
Billy remained on one knee, holding her injured palm against her apron.
A shard of glass glittered beside her shoe.
"Get up," Sabine snapped. "You're making a scene."
Billy tried.
Her hand slipped against the polished floor.
Pain shot through her wrist.
Before she could fall again, Rafe extended his hand.
"May I help you?"
Billy stared.
The most feared man in Boston was asking a waitress for permission to touch her.
She nodded.
He helped her stand.
Then looked at Sabine.
"Explain."
Sabine laughed.
"She's incompetent. She practically threw herself into me."
"That's not what I saw."
Her smile faltered.
Rafe turned toward Marisol, the banquet supervisor.
"Please arrange medical attention. And preserve the security footage."
Billy finally found her voice.
"I'm all right, sir."
He looked at the blood running between her fingers.
"No, you're not."
Sabine folded her arms.
"Are we seriously interrupting my collection launch over a waitress?"
Billy looked at the dress.
The reversed beadwork caught the chandelier light, sending silver reflections across the ceiling.
She knew that pattern.
Every stitch.
Every unusual seam.
Because for four years, she had been trying to prove it belonged to someone else.
Rafe noticed her staring.
"What is it?"
Billy swallowed.
"That dress."
Sabine's expression hardened.
"What about it?"
Billy looked directly at her.
"The beads are sewn backward."
Sabine laughed.
"Congratulations. You've discovered my signature technique."
Billy shook her head.
"No."
Her voice trembled.
"The original design used one hundred and forty-seven reversed beads along the left shoulder."
Sabine stopped smiling.
Billy continued.
"Your dress has one hundred and forty-six."
The entire room went silent.
Rafe slowly looked toward Sabine.
"How would she know that?"
Billy's eyes filled.
"Because my mother designed the original."
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Then she said the sentence that made Sabine's face turn white.
"And the missing bead is still inside the dress we buried with my sister."
