
I built Sterling Jewelry's best designs. The public knew Julian as its CEO. Almost no one knew I was his wife. For three years, I let him put his name on my work. I thought we were building the company together. Then, on our third wedding anniversary, his new intern walked in wearing the necklace I had spent six months making. Julian told me to stop overreacting and took her side. Fine. He could keep the credit. I was taking back everything behind it.

The Heart of Eternity took me six months to make. Every step had been a kind of prayer. I had drawn it first in charcoal, then in ink, then in gold thread pinned to velvet. I had measured the stones against my mother's wedding ring and adjusted the setting until it caught the light the way she had taught me — gently, like a held breath. It was meant to be the soul of the Starlight Collection, the piece that would carry the Vance name into the next decade. It was also, in my own private accounting, a love letter. Julian had married me three years ago in a quiet ceremony with no guests and no photographs. "The brand," he had explained, pressing my hand. "If the world learns the CEO of Sterling Jewelry is married to the Vance heiress, they'll say you designed everything I touch. They'll nev
