Chapter 1: The Crest on the Floor
The air in the grand lobby of the St. Moritz Hotel felt suddenly too thin to breathe. The crystal chandeliers overhead cast a bright, unforgiving light on the polished white marble floor, where a large golden crest—an interlocking "S" and "M" topped by a stylized crown—was inlaid directly into the stone.
Victoria Sterling stood over the kneeling figure, her white silk cowl-neck evening gown draped flawlessly around her slender frame. Her blonde hair, styled in a rigid, perfect bun, didn't have a single strand out of place. Her diamond necklace caught the light as her chest rose and fell with sharp, indignant breaths.
Beneath her, pressing a blood-stained, scraped palm against the smooth marble, was Sienna. Dressed in a simple white ribbed tank top, faded blue jeans, and worn sneakers, Sienna looked like an intruder in the gilded hall. Red scratches streaked down her left cheekbone, and a thin line of blood trickled from the corner of her lower lip onto her chin. A dark brown leather shoulder bag lay sprawled a few feet away where Victoria had kicked it.
"Drag yourself back to the street where you belong!" Victoria’s voice carried across the high ceilings, sharp as broken glass. Several black-tie guests stood frozen along the perimeter of the ballroom entrance, their champagne flutes paused halfway to their lips. "Trash like this doesn't belong inside my hotel!"
Sienna didn't scream. She didn't plead. She slowly pulled her hand back from the floor, wiping the trickle of blood from her lip with the back of her wrist. Her eyes, a striking gray-green, shifted upward, meeting Victoria’s furious gaze with a quiet, terrifying calm.
A heavy set of footsteps echoed rapidly across the marble. Officer Wright, the hotel's chief of security, stepped into the circle. Dressed in his dark black uniform with a silver badge pinned to his chest and an earpiece tucked behind his ear, his initial intent was to remove a disturbance. But as his eyes fell on the young woman kneeling beside the gold inlay, his entire posture locked up.
Wright’s gaze moved from the bloody scratches on Sienna’s face to the brown leather bag, and finally to the gold crest beneath her hand. The blood drained from his face so quickly he appeared pale under the bright lobby lights.
"Wait..." Wright’s voice rasped, his eyes widening in complete shock. "Miss... Miss Mercer?"
Victoria scoffed, turning toward the officer with an arrogant wave of her manicured hand. "Wright, finally! Take this vagrant out the back doors immediately! She tried to sneak into the private wing through the service elevator!"
May you like
Sienna pushed herself up from the floor. She moved smoothly, her posture straight despite the pain in her ribs and the scraped skin on her arm. She picked up her leather shoulder bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stepped directly into Victoria's personal space.
"You should have checked the deed before you assumed who owned the building, Victoria," Sienna said, her voice low, measured, and echoing clearly through the silent lobby. "You just assaulted the owner of this hotel."
