Chapter 3

I took a deep breath, haphazardly wiped my face with a towel, and headed back to my room. I opened the drawer of my nightstand.

Inside was a velvet jewelry box.

In the box, a beautifully crafted platinum necklace rested. Its pendant was shaped like a tiny ginkgo leaf, sparkling with delicate diamonds.

This was the birthday gift I had picked out for Linda.

Her forty-fifth birthday was a few days away.

I spent two whole months scraping together every cent from my part-time gigs, and even begged a senior from the design department to help me draw up the…