The Cost Of Your Stolen Sapphire

The night of the charity gala, I dropped half a million dollars just to see Maddy smile. I didn’t know that while I was signing the paperwork, her "star intern" was busy rerouting the delivery to his own apartment. Thirty million dollars’ worth of custom-designed jewelry—pieces I had spent years saving for—ended up in the hands of a kid who hadn’t been with the company for more than three months. When I confronted him in the office, Tyler didn’t argue. He didn’t make excuses. He simply dropped to his knees right there in the middle of the open-plan floor, tears streaming down his face. "Nate, please," he sobbed, his voice carrying across the silent cubicles. "I was desperate. My family... we’re losing everything. Without this, they’ll be on the streets by the end of the month!" Maddy stepped out of her glass-walled office, her heels clicking sharply against the polished concrete. She didn't look at the intern with suspicion. She looked at me with pure, unadulterated disgust.