Chapter 42

The servant who was handed the box looked absolutely terrified. If she dropped something this valuable, she’d never hear the end of it.
So when May volunteered, the servant wasted no time in passing the responsibility to her.
Anastasia was just about to settle in for her afternoon nap when a sharp knock startled her awake. She shuffled to the door, opened it, and found May standing there. Her tone was cool and distant. “What is it?”
May bowed her head respectfully and offered a simple, elegant box. “This is from Lady Lancaster. It’s for Mr. Lancaster, but since he’s not home, I’ve brought it to you, ma’am.”
Anastasia glanced at the box and nodded. “Just leave it there.”
May stepped inside, set the box down carefully, and left as quietly as she had
come.
Anastasia walked over to the box, eyeing it curiously, but made no move to open it. She had always believed in respecting other people’s belongings-especially when she hadn’t been given permission to touch them.
After her nap, Harrison returned home.
As he came downstairs, he overheard May explaining, “I left it with Mrs.
Lancaster. Mr. Lancaster wasn’t back yet, and it seemed too valuable to just leave lying around, so I gave it to her for safekeeping.”
Realizing they were talking about the box, Anastasia said, “It’s with me.”
She turned to fetch the box and handed it over to Harrison, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Is this the jade pendant your grandmother sent you?”
Harrison nodded. “Yes.”
Logan, standing nearby, chimed in, “Lady Lancaster went all the way to the abbey herself to get this for Mr. Lancaster. I heard she-”
He stopped midsentence.
A heavy silence fell.
Harrison’s expression darkened.
There, nestled inside the open box, the once-pristine jade pendant lay shattered into several pieces.
The servant who had first received the box went pale, her voice shaking as she protested, “It wasn’t me, Mr. Lancaster! I didn’t take the box-May did!”
May looked utterly stunned, turning to Anastasia. “I-I brought it straight to Mrs. Lancaster as soon as I got it!”
Suddenly, all eyes were on Anastasia.
Her gaze turned icy.
The moment she saw the broken pendant, she knew things had taken a turn for the worse.
The other servants stole glances at her, their expressions a mix of sympathy and dread.
This was bad. Mr. Lancaster could let most things slide-but not when it came to gifts from his grandmother. Especially not when Lady Lancaster had gone to so much trouble to get this for him.
The new Mrs. Lancaster was in for it now.
Anastasia understood just how serious this was. She looked at Harrison, desperate to explain. “It wasn’t me! I never touched it after May handed it to me. I have no idea how it got broken!”
The pendant had been intact when it arrived, and now, suddenly, it was shattered. She hadn’t touched it-there was only one other possible suspect: May.
Seeing how desperate she was to clear her name, afraid Harrison might suspect her, his expression softened just a little. He was about to speak when, suddenly- “Lady Lancaster is here!”
Everyone turned toward the doorway. A regal-looking older woman entered, her arm resting on Alice’s for support.
“What’s going on here?” Lady Lancaster’s gaze fell on the shattered pendant, and her face changed. She hurried over. “What happened? Who broke this?”
“Lady Lancaster, please, you have to help me!” May fell to her knees in a panic.
She sobbed, “I was only the one who delivered the box to Mrs. Lancaster. Now the pendant is broken and I just know she’ll say it was me… but I swear I didn’t do it! If I get blamed for this, there’s no way I could ever pay for it. It’ll ruin me!”
Alice spoke up, “For it to be this broken, someone would have had to throw it hard. How could May have done that? She’s just a servant. Like she said, if she broke it, she’d owe more than she could ever repay. Why would she do that on purpose? She’d have to be out of her mind.”