At the café...
The warm aroma of roasted coffee beans filled the air. Lorie sat at a corner table, her fingers wrapped around a warm latte as she waited for Nathan. Excitent buzzed beneath her skin, her eyes darting toward the entrance every few seconds.
Anticipation fluttered in her chest like restless wings. She didn’t have the pendant with her, but that didn’t matter. This opportunity was too good to pass up. She was determined to trap him today. Once Nathan was in her hands, he’d give her anything she asked for.
Nathan was handso and wealthy, and Lorie intended to make him hers.
She leaned back slightly, crossing her legs, eyes still fixed on the door, sipping her latte leisurely.
Several minutes later...
Nathan walked in, his tall fra filling the doorway, and the bell above chid softly.
Her breath caught the mont her eyes landed on him.
’He is even more attractive than I rembered,’ she mumbled in her head.
Lorie’s gaze lingered on Nathan, drawn in by the quiet magnetism he carried. He wasn’t athletic like Augustine’s, but he had a refined, lean fra—tall and composed, the kind of body that exuded elegance rather than brute strength.
His face was sharply defined, with high cheekbones and a strong, clean jawline that gave him a sculpted look. A few tousled locks of dark hair curled lazily over his forehead, softening the sharpness of his features and adding a boyish charm to his otherwise composed deanor. His eyes, frad by thin gold glasses, were intense, clear, intelligent, and piercing. There was sothing calculating and enigmatic in them, as though he was always three steps ahead of everyone else in the room.
Everything about him—from the way he carried himself to the subtle confidence in his posture—radiated quiet power and allure. To Lorie, this man wasn’t just handso; he was intriguing – the kind of man who left an impression on others’ minds.
Lorie adjusted her blouse to enhance her cleavage, then drew in a breath and swept her hair behind her shoulders. She rose from her chair and smiled as she t his gaze.
Nathan’s eyes scanned the space as he walked over to her.
Lorie stretched her hand toward him excitedly, "Good morning, sir. I—"
"Show the pendant," Nathan cut in coolly, not bothering to glance at her as if her presence was not important. His tone was flat, controlled, dismissive. He pulled out the chair across from her and sat down.
Lorie’s smile faltered as Nathan’s cold glare sliced through her like a blade. The anticipation she had felt just monts ago withered instantly under the weight of his contempt. Her chest tightened with unease, but she kept her voice sweet, carefully masking her nerves as she sat back in her chair.
"Let’s have so coffee first," Lorie said smoothly, raising her hand to signal the waitress. "One more latte, please." She flashed a smile, a spark of calculation flickering beneath her lashes.
The waitress gave a short, aningful nod and walked off.
Nathan, however, remained unmoved. He wasn’t here for drinking coffee and chatting with her. "Why don’t you just show the pendant?"
The urgency in his tone was impossible to miss, but Lorie acted as though she hadn’t even heard him.
"My mother told I was still in her womb when Anne ca into our lives," she said, ignoring his question. "She was just three years old. Frightened. Hungry. Filthy from being left alone. I rember thinking, even as I got older, how heartless her parents must have been to throw away a child like that."
A furrow ford between Nathan’s brows. His sister had also been just three years old when she was taken all those years ago. The coincidence deepened his curiosity, making him even more eager to know if Anne was truly the girl he had been searching for.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and held it out to Lorie, showing her a photo of his sister as a young child.
"Look closely. Can you rember anything? This is the girl I am looking for. Is she Anne?" He zood in, tapping on the pendant. "Do you recognize this?"
Lorie squinted at the screen, her heart giving a sharp jolt as the image ca into focus.
It was unmistakably Anne’s childhood photo, and the jade pendant—Lorie had worn that exact piece for as long as. A shiver crept up the back of her neck.
’Anne is from a rich family?’ The realization slamd into her with force, knocking the air from her lungs. She stared blankly at the image, unable to form words.
Her silence only added to his restlessness. "Say sothing," he demanded, his voice sharper now. "You recognize her, don’t you?"
Lorie curled her fingers into fists under the table. A storm brewed inside her, jealousy and bitterness rising like bile.
’Why her?’ she thought venomously. ’Why is Anne always the lucky one?’
Anne married a successful, handso man like Augustine, living in luxury. And now her long-lost wealthy parents were searching for her. anwhile, Lorie was still shackled to a miserable life with Robert, trapped in a cycle of hardship. The unfairness of it all made her blood boil.
Her expression flattened. No—she wouldn’t say a word. Let Nathan keep searching.
’Anne doesn’t deserve to know the truth. She shouldn’t know who her biological parents were,’ she thought bitterly.
"Do you recognize this girl?" Nathan asked sharply, frustration creeping into his voice. "Do you have this pendant? If you do, show it to ."
Lorie blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. "No," she said quickly, shaking her head.
Nathan’s brows pulled together. "What do you an?" he asked, his heart sinking.
Lorie straightened up, her mind working fast. She couldn’t let him slip away—not before she reeled him into her plan. She gave a small, dismissive shrug.
"I an... it has been over twenty years," she said lightly. "And honestly, I don’t rember what she looked like when she was three years old. I wasn’t even born at the ti. And...we didn’t keep any photos of her, you know."
Nathan clenched his jaw at her words, anger flashing in his eyes. He recalled his earlier conversation with her. Not a single photograph of Anne from her childhood existed in the Clair household.
He slipped the phone back into his pocket.
"I... I don’t have the pendant with right now," she murmured. "So, I can’t tell..."
The words barely left her lips before Nathan’s deanor shifted from indifferent to furious.
"What did you say?" he hissed. "You don’t have it? Why didn’t you say that before? You are wasting my ti."
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