Chapter 19 (Part 02)

The box was beautiful. Not just packaging but art. Everything about it screamed expensive in a way that made my small apartment feel even more cramped and shabby by comparison. I carried it to the living room like it might explode, setting it carefully on my coffee table.

For a long moment, I just stared at it.

Expensive things didn’t just arrive at my door. The most extravagant package I’d ever received was a care package from my mother containing homemade cookies and a gift card to Target.

This was something else entirely.

I peeled off the paper slowly, afraid of damaging whatever lay beneath. The wrapping came away to reveal a pristine white box with a name written in delicate gold calligraphy that made my breath catch.

*Maison du Lys.*

My throat dried.

Maison du Lys?

I’d only ever seen that name in magazines, on red carpets, in those “what celebrities wore” articles that made me feel like I was peering throu