Chapter 2 - THE GIRL FROM VALDORNE
Three days after the incident, Nora received a letter.
Not an email.
Not a phone call.
A handwritten letter delivered to her apartment.
The envelope carried the Harcourt family crest.
Inside was a short message.
Miss Bellamy,
My father has asked to see you.
I understand that your encounter at the restaurant was unexpected and distressing. You are under no obligation to visit.
If you are willing, I would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you about what happened.
Elliot Harcourt.
Nora read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her younger sister, Lucy, leaned over the kitchen table.
“Is that from the billionaire?”
Nora nodded.
Lucy stared.
“The actual Elliot Harcourt?”
“Yes.”
“The one who owns half of Chicago?”
“He doesn't own half of Chicago.”
Lucy raised an eyebrow.
“Fine. A third.”
Nora almost smiled.
Lucy was nineteen.
Brilliant.
Stubborn.
And halfway through her second year of college.
Nora had worked since she was seventeen to help keep their family afloat.
Their parents had died in a highway accident when Lucy was eleven.
Their grandmother Amelia had raised them until her health declined.
After Amelia's death, Nora became the only person Lucy could depend on.
And now a billionaire wanted to discuss a family secret that might connect them to one of Chicago's wealthiest families.
Lucy sat down.
“Are you going?”
Nora looked at the letter.
“I don't know.”
Lucy studied her.
“Grandma always said there were things she couldn't remember.”
Nora nodded.
“She remembered more near the end.”
Lucy looked toward the living room.
On the shelf stood Amelia's old sewing box.
The blue ribbon was still inside.
Lucy whispered, “Maybe this is why she kept it.”
Nora looked at the box.
May you like
Then at the letter.
And made her decision.
