The party was supposed to be perfect.
Warm light spilled through the glass walls of the Cole mansion. Champagne moved from hand to hand. Soft laughter floated across the terrace, mixing with the quiet ripple of the pool.
No one noticed Lily standing alone near the water.
At seventeen, she had already learned how to disappear in a crowded room.
She was good at it.
Especially when Vivian was nearby.
“Looking for this?”
Lily turned.
Vivian stood a few feet away in a dark burgundy dress, one hand raised between them.
Something silver hung from her fingers.
Lily stopped breathing.
Her mother’s necklace.
A delicate silver chain.
One tiny pale-blue stone.
The last thing Lily had left of her.
“Give it back.”
Vivian glanced at the pendant as if it were something she had found at the bottom of a drawer.
“This?”
“Vivian.”
Lily’s voice sharpened.
“It was my mom’s.”
For a moment, Vivian simply looked at her.
Then she smiled.
Not warmly.
Not enough for anyone across the terrace to notice anything was wrong.
“Exactly.”
She flicked her wrist.
The necklace flashed once beneath the party lights.
Then disappeared over the edge of the pool.
Lily stared.
“No.”
She rushed forward.
The chain broke the water almost silently. For one second the pale-blue stone caught the light beneath the surface.
Then it began to sink.
“Why would you do that?”
Vivian stepped closer.
“Because you keep dragging dead things into this house.”
Lily turned around.
“What did you just say?”
Vivian’s expression didn’t change.
“Things that belong to the dead should stay with the dead.”
Lily’s eyes filled instantly.
But her voice didn’t shake.
“Don’t talk about my mom like that.”
A few guests were laughing near the glass doors.
Someone lifted a champagne flute.
A waiter crossed the far side of the terrace.
No one was looking at them.
Vivian moved behind Lily.
Lily turned back toward the water.
The pendant was still visible below.
Faint.
Blue.
Getting harder to see.
She leaned slightly over the edge.
Behind her, Vivian raised both hands.
Then shoved.
Hard.
Lily had no time to scream.
Her shoulders jerked forward.
One foot shot out instinctively—
and found nothing.
For one terrible second, her arms flew wide as she tried to catch herself.
Then the pool swallowed her.
The splash finally turned heads.
Lily plunged beneath the surface.
Cold water closed over her face.
She kicked upward.
Her head broke through.
She coughed, grabbed at the coping, missed once—
then caught it with both hands.
“Nora!”
A young maid was already running toward her.
Lily’s wet fingers slipped against the stone.
“Help me—”
Nora reached the edge.
Vivian’s voice stopped her.
“Don’t.”
Nora froze.
Lily looked up.
“Please.”
Vivian walked to the edge of the pool.
Slowly.
Calmly.
“I said no one helps her.”
Several people were watching now.
Not one of them moved.
Nora looked from Vivian to Lily.
“Mrs. Cole, she can barely—”
Vivian turned her head.
Just slightly.
Nora stopped speaking.
Lily tightened her grip.
Her arms were trembling.
“Vivian…”
Vivian looked down at her.
Then placed the sole of her shoe over Lily’s right hand.
Lily gasped.
The pressure increased.
“Stop!”
Her fingers began to slide.
“Please!”
Vivian said nothing.
Lily’s hand came free.
Then the other.
She dropped back into the water.
This time, she was weaker.
Her arms moved once.
Twice.
Then her head disappeared beneath the surface.
Behind them, the mansion doors opened.
A suitcase rolled across the threshold.
Adrian Cole stepped onto the terrace.
His flight had landed early.
Three hours early.
He loosened his tie as he looked around the party.
“Lily?”
No answer.
Then he saw the crowd gathered around the pool.
He saw the disturbed water.
A flash of pale blue beneath the surface.
His suitcase fell over.
“LILY!”
Adrian ran.
His jacket hit the stone before he reached the edge.
A second later, he jumped.
