Margarethe: Stand up this instant and answer me! Who sent you here?
Child: Nobody sent me, ma'am! I came on my own!
Margarethe: People like you don't just wander into private estates by accident. You were looking for something to take, weren't you?
Child: No! I was just hungry and cold!
Margarethe: Save your excuses for someone who cares. Thief!
Margarethe reached down and shoved the young girl again, sending her skittering back against the stone pillar. The child let out a soft cry as her frail body hit the hard surface.
Child: Please don't hurt me!
Margarethe: I want you off my land before I have the security team drag you away!
The young girl reached into her pocket instinctively, but her hands were trembling so badly that her tiny fingers slipped. A gold locket attached to a delicate chain tumbled out, bouncing twice on the marble steps before coming to a stop near Margarethe's feet.
Margarethe: What did you just drop?
Child: It's mine! Give it back to me!
Margarethe bent down slowly, her fingers brushing against the cold, familiar metal. The blue stone inlaid in the center caught the afternoon sun, sparkling with a brilliant light that made her heart drop into her stomach.
Margarethe: This can't be... Where did you steal this?
Child: I didn't steal it! My mom gave it to me before she got sick!
Margarethe: Don't lie to my face, child! This piece of jewelry is priceless!
Child: It's the truth! My mom told me never to lose it!
Margarethe turned the heavy gold piece over in her palm, her mind racing back through two decades of pain, endless search reports, and broken promises from private investigators.
Margarethe: This custom piece was made specifically for my family. It disappeared twenty years ago on the night my home was torn apart by tragedy.
Child: I don't know anything about that! My mom just said it belonged to her family!
Margarethe: What is your mother's name? Tell me right now!
Child: Why are you being so mean to me?
Margarethe: Because this locket belonged to my lost child! Speak!
The girl wiped her nose with her dirty sleeve, her body shivering violently under the stern glare of the wealthy woman standing over her.
Child: Her name is Sarah... Sarah Miller.
Margarethe felt the breath get snatched straight out of her chest. The world around her seemed to tilt as the name echoed in her ears.
Margarethe: Sarah? Did you say Sarah?
Child: Yes! Sarah! She always told me that this locket used to belong to my grandmother, but she never knew where my grandmother went!
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