Chapter 1
He called her a beggar. Then he ripped the violin from 9-year-old Emily’s hands and shoved her onto the marble floor.
The instrument hit the ground with a sickening crack.
Emily stared at the broken wood, tears spilling down her face.
“Please… that was the last thing my mom gave me.”
The man sneered.
“You shouldn’t have brought trash into my hotel.”
That was when the ballroom doors opened.
Richard Hale, the hotel’s owner, had arrived early for the charity gala.
He saw Emily on the floor.
Then he saw the shattered violin.
“What happened here?”
The manager immediately straightened his jacket.
“She was bothering guests for money. I removed her.”
“I wasn’t begging,” Emily whispered. “I came to find my father.”
Richard crouched beside her.
Then—
A small photograph slipped from the broken violin case.
The manager’s face went completely pale.
Richard picked it up.
The picture showed Emily’s mother standing beside him nearly ten years earlier.
On the back, in handwriting he recognized instantly, were six words:
Richard, she deserves to know everything.
His hands began to shake.
The manager suddenly reached for the photograph.
“You need to give me that.”
Richard looked up slowly.
“Why?”
Emily pointed toward the violin case.
“There’s a letter hidden underneath.”
The manager stopped moving.
May you like
And Richard realized the man hadn’t thrown Emily out because she looked poor.
He had recognized her.
