Then came the screams.

“Where is it? Where is my mother’s brooch?” Vivian’s voice cut through the manor like a blade.

Theo appeared at the top of the stairs. “Mom… what’s wrong?”

“I’ve been robbed!” Vivian shrieked. “The Ashbourne sapphire, gone!”

Selene froze. “I… I dusted the cabinet. Nothing else,” she said quickly, heart hammering.

“Then it must have been you!” Vivian snapped, eyes narrowing. “And you, girl,” she added, gesturing vaguely toward Clara, a weekend helper.

Theo clutched his mother’s arm. “No, Mom, Selene was with me in the west wing the whole time.”

Sebastian Ashbourne, the heir’s father, appeared. “Vivian, let’s calm down”

“Calm down? My family’s legacy is gone! Someone here took it!” Vivian’s voice shook.

Within hours, the police arrived, questions were asked, statements recorded. Selene was taken into custody two days later. Alone, frightened, and bewildered, she had no one to advocate for her. The newspapers branded her “the maid who betrayed the Ashbourne trust.”

But Selene wasn’t defeated. With the help of a young public defender intern, Iris Vega, she began combing security footage, staff schedules, and every minute of the morning. Most things looked normal—but one camera in the hall outside the library glitched for exactly five minutes, precisely when the sapphire disappeared.

“It wasn’t you,” Iris said firmly. “The footage proves someone tampered with the system. We’ll find them.”

Selene clenched her hands, the taste of injustice bitter in her mouth. But for the first time, she felt the spark of hope. They wouldn’t define her as a thief. Not without a fight.