CHAPTER 1 – The Bracelet That Changed Everything
CHAPTER 1 – The Bracelet That Changed Everything
The ballroom remained frozen.
Not a single champagne glass moved.
Not a single guest dared to whisper.
The elegant woman stared at the faded silver bracelet around the unconscious woman's wrist as though she had seen a ghost.
Her name was Victoria Almeida.
Chairwoman of the Almeida Foundation.
Owner of half the luxury hotels in Portugal.
And the only daughter of the late Eduardo Almeida.
She slowly knelt again.
With trembling fingers, she touched the tiny engraving inside the bracelet.
"Forever Sisters."
Only two bracelets like that had ever existed.
One belonged to Victoria.
The other...
Belonged to her younger sister Sofia.
The sister everyone believed had died twenty-two years earlier after disappearing during a terrible flood.
Victoria's voice cracked.
"No..."
She gently brushed the soaked hair away from the woman's face.
Although older...
Although exhausted...
The tiny birthmark beside her left eyebrow hadn't changed.
Tears filled Victoria's eyes.
"Sofia..."
The room gasped.
The hotel manager frowned.
"Ma'am, this woman is homeless. She can't possibly—"
Victoria turned toward him with a glare so cold that he immediately stopped speaking.
"Call an ambulance."
"Now."
Within seconds, every security guard who had ignored the little boy suddenly rushed to help.
The child refused to let go of his mother's hand.
"Please don't let her die," he whispered.
Victoria knelt beside him.
"What's your name?"
"Lucas."
"And the baby?"
"My little sister... Emma."
"Where's your father?"
Lucas lowered his head.
"He said we weren't his family anymore."
Victoria closed her eyes.
Someone had stolen her sister's life.
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And now...
Her family had returned in the most heartbreaking way imaginable.
