Chapter 3

Jessie pressed the elevator call button. The metal doors slid open with a soft chime. She grabbed her suitcase handle, ready to step inside.

"Wait!"

Harley's high heels clicked frantically against the marble floor. She ran forward and slapped her hand against the elevator door, stopping it from closing.

Harley was panting slightly, her chest rising and falling. She forced a sweet, pleading smile onto her face.

Jessie stared at her, her grip tightening on the luggage handle. Her muscles coiled, a physical reaction to the proximity of the woman who had caused her so much agony in her past life.

"That necklace," Harley said softly, pointing a manicured finger at Jessie's chest. "It's so unique. Could you... could you give it to me? As a keepsake? So I have something to remember my big sister by?"

A visceral memory flashed behind Jessie's eyes. Harley using this exact same excuse. Harley accidentally cutting her finger on the clasp, her blood soaking into the metal, stealing the spatial core that belonged to Jessie's bloodline.

Jessie took a deliberate step back into the elevator. She covered her collar with her hand, her body language screaming defensive paranoia.

"No," Jessie said, her voice harsh. "My adoptive mother in the Rust Belt gave this to me. It's the only thing I have left of her."

Harley's eyes narrowed slightly. Seeing Jessie guard it so fiercely only convinced Harley that the necklace was incredibly valuable. Her jealousy flared, burning hot in her chest.

"I'll buy it from you," Harley offered, changing tactics.

Jessie let out a dry, mocking laugh. "You? You're a fake heiress living on an allowance. You can't afford it."

The insult hit Harley like a physical blow. Her face stiffened, the sweet mask cracking. "One million dollars," she gritted out.

Jessie shook her head and reached for the 'Close Door' button.

"Five million!" Harley panicked, grabbing the edge of the elevator door with both hands.

Jessie's hand paused over the button. She let a flicker of hesitation show in her eyes. Just enough greed to make it believable.

Harley caught that flicker. A smug satisfaction warmed her blood. Country trash, she thought. Always easily bought.

Jessie took a deep breath, acting as if she was making a painful sacrifice. "Twenty million. Not a penny less."

Harley sucked in a sharp breath. Twenty million was almost her entire liquid savings. It would drain her personal accounts dry.

But the thought of taking the one thing Jessie cherished, the thought of owning that mysterious antique, consumed her. Harley pulled out her phone. "Fine."

They stood in the tense silence of the elevator threshold. Harley's thumbs flew across her screen, authorizing the massive transfer.

A minute later, Jessie's phone vibrated. She checked the screen. Twenty million dollars had cleared.

Jessie reached behind her neck. She didn't unclasped it gently. She yanked the necklace hard, snapping the thin silver chain.

She tossed the necklace at Harley like it was a piece of garbage.

Harley fumbled to catch it, her hands closing tightly around the metal as if it were a holy relic.

Jessie stepped fully into the elevator. She turned around, looking at Harley's triumphant face.

As the metal doors slowly began to slide shut, the corners of Jessie's mouth twitched upward into a dark, mocking sneer.

The doors clicked shut.

Jessie looked at her reflection in the mirrored walls of the elevator. The core energy of that necklace had already been absorbed into her body the moment she was reborn.

Harley had just paid twenty million dollars for a useless piece of scrap metal.

The elevator descended to the underground garage. Jessie pulled her suitcase out and walked toward the waiting yellow cab.

She opened the back door, slid onto the cracked leather seat, and looked at the driver. "Take me to the Ramsey estate in the Hamptons."