The Billionaire Married a Homeless Girl novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Bracelet in the Purse
Bridget, a caterer, is accused of theft at a gala, proves the real thief, and then the billionaire sees her sleeping son.
The diamond bracelet was gone, and a woman in white silk was pointing at my apron.
"Her," Daphne Merryman said. "The server with the tray. She was alone in the coat room."
Four hundred guests in the Allegheny Grand ballroom stopped talking.
I was holding a tray of champagne flutes and I did not drop one.
I have carried trays for six years and I have learned how to keep my face still.
"I haven't touched your bracelet," I said.
"Then you won't mind emptying your pockets."
The catering manager was already beside me, sweating through his collar.
"Bridget, please. Just do it, and we can all move on."
I set the tray on a cart.
I turned out my apron pockets one at a time.
A pen, a lighter for the candles, forty-one dollars in tips, and a pink crayon.
Someone near the front laughed at the crayon.
I did not explain it.
My son was asleep on a pile of fur coats thirty feet away.
He was four years old, and I had nowhere else to put him tonight.
The car had no heat, and it was nineteen degrees outside.
"There," I said. "Nothing."
"She could have passed it to someone," Daphne said. "These people always have someone."
I looked at her for the first time.
She was tall and polished, with a diamond on her left hand the size of a grape.
I knew her face from somewhere, and I couldn't place it.
"At nine forty, you were at the coat check," I said.
The room got very quiet.
"I was behind the rack with a tray of canapés. You came in alone and you took the bracelet off your wrist."
Daphne's smile did not move.
"You looked at the door, and then you put it in your clutch."
"This is absurd."
"Then open your clutch."
A murmur ran through the guests.
A man had been standing at the edge of the crowd, and he stepped forward.
He was tall, maybe thirty-three, with short dark-blond hair going silver above the ears and a clean-shaven jaw.
He had the kind of stillness that made people move out of his way.
I knew him at once, and my stomach dropped to the floor.
Nolan Laughlin.
He wore a black tuxedo with the ease of a man who owned the room, and his family's name was on the banner over the stage.
"Daphne," he said quietly. "Let me see the bag."
"Nolan, honestly, you can't believe a caterer over me."
"I believe I'd like to see the bag."
She handed it over with a laugh that cracked in the middle.
He opened the clasp with two fingers.
The bracelet lay on the satin lining, throwing diamonds across his wrist.
Nobody breathed.
"I must have picked it up with my gloves," Daphne said. "I took it off to wash my hands and I was so tired."
"Of course," Nolan said.
His voice was perfectly calm and he did not look at her.
He was looking at me.
My heart was going so hard I could feel it in my teeth.
It had been five years since I stood in front of this man, and he was looking at me.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That should not have happened to you."
"Mr. Laughlin," the catering manager began.
"Not now."
I took my apron off and folded it over the cart.
"I'd like my pay for the night," I said to the manager. "I worked nine hours."
"You're done here, Bridget. The agency won't send you out again."
Of course they wouldn't.
I walked toward the coat room with my chin up, past four hundred people who would forget me by dessert.
I heard Nolan Laughlin say my name behind me, and I kept walking.
The coat room was dim and smelled of wet wool.
Benji was sitting up on the pile of furs in his dinosaur socks, rubbing one eye with his fist.
"Mama, I'm cold," he said. "Who was that man?"
The door opened behind me and light fell across the floor.
I turned.
Nolan Laughlin stood in the doorway, and he was staring at my son.
At the gray eyes, the dark-blond hair, the small, stubborn chin.
At his own face, at four years old.
All the color left him.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend