---- Chapter 19 19 Days turned into weeks, weeks into a blur of alcohol-fueled despair. Liam collapsed in his office, clutching the laminated divorce papers. He hadn't eaten in days. Sleep was a distant memory, haunted by Maya's face. His grandmother, Eleanor Goldstein, the formidable matriarch of the family, found him there. She took one look at him, at the squalor of his surroundings, and her lips thinned in disapproval. Meanwhile, the scandal of Maya's disappearance and Ava's public humiliation was taking its toll on Goldstein Global. Stock prices plummeted. Investors grew wary. Public condemnation was fierce. Liam was a pariah. Even the "Maya's Horizon" necklace, now a symbol of his deceit, was affected. The anonymous international collector who had bought it, spooked by the bad press, put it up for auction again. This time, there was little interest. Liam, hearing of it through a market report, felt a perverse urge. He instructed his broker to buy it, anonymously. He acquired it for a fraction of its original worth, a fraction of ---- what he'd paid to get it back the first time. It arrived in a plain box. He opened it. The sapphires and diamonds seemed dull, lifeless. He held it, the cold metal a reminder of its lost meaning, his monumental failure. It was just an expensive trinket now, stripped of its magic, its symbolism. Like his life without Maya. Desperate, running out of options, Liam devised a new strategy. A public appeal. He would offer a massive reward for any information leading to Maya's whereabouts. Ten million dollars. His advisors cautioned against it. "It will look like you're trying to buy her back, sir. Or worse, hunt her down." "| don't care how it looks," Liam said, his eyes feverish. "| need to find her." The announcement went out. News outlets, social media, billboards. Maya's smiling face, juxtaposed with the staggering reward sum. "LIAM GOLDSTEIN OFFERS $10M FOR INFORMATION ON MISSING WIFE." The initial public reaction was cynical, as predicted. "He drove her away, now he wants to buy her back?" "She's smart to stay hidden." ---- Hoax calls and false leads poured in, people trying to exploit the situation. Liam waded through them, his hope dwindling with each dead end.