The Queen's Ruthless Return
"Sitting up there like she’s a queen! She probably spent the last of her rented money to sit in that box with no jewelry on her neck. How pathetic!"
The chime of a silver bell cut through the chatter.
On the center stage, the master auctioneer stepped behind a marble podium. Two security guards in white gloves carried out a bulletproof glass display case lined with dark black velvet.
Under the sharp spotlight, the centerpiece was revealed.
A collective, breathless gasp filled the entire opera house.
It was the Crown Emerald.
A flawless, fifty-carat, untreated Colombian emerald cut into an imperial teardrop, surrounded by a cascade of three hundred rare pink diamonds. The stone burned with an