CHAPTER 1: THE MARK SHE COULD NEVER FORGET
CHAPTER 1: THE MARK SHE COULD NEVER FORGET
Victoria's hand trembled.
There, just beneath Rosie's left ear, hidden by a loose strand of hair, was a tiny crescent-shaped birthmark.
The same birthmark.
The one she had kissed every night before putting her daughter to sleep.
The ballroom disappeared around her.
The music.
The voices.
The glittering lights.
None of it mattered anymore.
"Rosie..." Victoria whispered again.
Rosie stepped back nervously.
"I don't understand. Do I know you?"
Victoria could barely breathe.
Twenty-five years.
Twenty-five years of searching.
And now the child she had buried in her heart stood alive in front of her.
"Your birthday," Victoria asked softly. "Do you know your birthday?"
Rosie nodded.
"September seventeenth."
Victoria closed her eyes.
That was the day.
The exact day her daughter had been born.
A sob escaped her before she could stop it.
Guests nearby began watching.
Whispers spread through the ballroom.
The powerful Victoria Ashford was crying.
No one had ever seen that before.
Rosie looked overwhelmed.
"Ma'am, what's happening?"
Victoria reached into her purse and pulled out an old photograph she had carried for decades.
A smiling little girl wearing a star necklace.
Rosie's eyes widened.
The child in the picture looked exactly like her.
And for the first time in her life...
Rosie felt something inside her shift.
May you like
Something she could not explain.
Something that felt like home.
