Eleanor visited five gemstone suppliers over the course of one day. A few outclassed AOD in reputation, but none of the stones carried anything genuinely distinctive.
With tomorrow being AOD's final day holding the raw stone, she needed to commit.
She'd once thought tens of millions in assets made her genuinely wealthy.
Running her own studio had taught her fast how quickly money actually burned, especially in jewelry.
And even after dropping that much on a single stone, there was no guarantee she'd beat Cassandra anyway.
Sitting in the car, Eleanor shook her head hard.
No giving up before it's even started.
Right as the doubt crept back in, her phone rang.
Julian.
She sat there, torn between picking up and letting it go.
In the end, she answered.
"What are you doing? Took you l
