Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE STOLEN DESIGN
Sabine Voss had built a multimillion-dollar fashion empire around a design Billy Ror claimed her family created.
For several seconds, no one spoke.
Then Sabine laughed.
It was the brittle laugh of someone trying to convince three hundred witnesses that nothing important had happened.
"This is absurd."
Billy stood motionless.
"Is it?"
Sabine stepped closer.
"Do you understand how many lawyers I employ?"
Billy looked at the crimson wine soaking her uniform.
"More than my mother could afford."
Rafe's expression changed.
"What happened to your sister?"
Billy swallowed.
"Her name was Anna."
Sabine went rigid.
The reaction lasted only a second.
But Billy saw it.
Rafe did too.
"Did you know Anna Ror?" he asked.
Sabine looked away.
"No."
Billy reached into her apron.
She removed a small photograph, protected inside a clear plastic sleeve.
Two young women stood in a cramped sewing room.
Billy was nineteen.
Anna was twenty-three.
Between them hung a cream-colored gown covered in reversed silver beadwork.
The same pattern Sabine wore.
Rafe took the photograph after Billy offered it.
"Where was this taken?"
"Our house in Dorchester."
"When?"
"Four years ago. Two months before Anna died."
Sabine reached for the photograph.
Rafe moved it away.
"Please don't touch it."
Her eyes widened.
"Rafe!"
He looked toward her.
"You just poured wine over an employee in front of hundreds of people. Perhaps you should stop worrying about your reputation."
Sabine went silent.
Billy's injured palm throbbed.
But something inside her had awakened.
For four years, she'd collected documents.
Photographs.
Invoices.
Old sketches.
Delivery records.
She'd taken the hotel job because every company supplying Sabine's fashion foundation eventually led back to the Windmir.
And tonight, the original designer's work was standing ten feet away.
Rafe studied the photograph.
"Why didn't your mother file a lawsuit?"
Billy laughed bitterly.
"We tried."
"What happened?"
"Our attorney disappeared."
Silence.
Then Billy added:
"And Anna died three days after she threatened to show the original sketches to a journalist."
Rafe's eyes narrowed.
"How?"
Billy looked directly at Sabine.
"An accident."
Sabine suddenly reached for her phone.
Billy continued.
"That's what the police were told."
Rafe looked at his fiancée.
"What do you know about Anna Ror?"
Sabine's hands began trembling.
"Nothing."
Then a voice came from behind the documentary cameras.
"That's a lie."
Everyone turned.
Priya, the documentary crew director, stood holding a tablet.
"I just reviewed the footage from four years ago."
May you like
She looked toward Billy.
"And Anna Ror was standing beside Sabine Voss the night the collection was supposedly invented."
