Chapter 4 Juanita's frantic cry jolted Zachary, who dropped what he was holding and hurried to her side. "Calm down, Nita. Have you checked everywhere?" Juanita's eyes flickered toward Emmaline in the living room, her voice timid. "I... I've looked everywhere... except... except Dr. Walsh's room." Emmaline's patience snapped. She slammed her pen down and strode over, her face taut with indignation. "What are you implying, Juanita? That I stole your pendant?" Juanita shrank back, tears streaming down her face. "No, Dr. Walsh, I didn't mean that! It's just... that gemstone pen- dant means everything to me. It's the only thing my grandmother left me..." Her voice broke, and she seemed on the verge of collapsing in sobs. Zachary's heart visibly softened. Stepping protectively in front of Juanita, he turned to Emmaline. "Emma, she's not accusing you. She's just desperate. If you've got nothing to hide, just let her check your room. What's the harm?" Emmaline stared at him, a wave of humiliation crashing over her. She could accept that he had fallen for someone else-but she never imagined he would doubt her character. They'd grown up together, and she thought he'd at least trust her integrity. She never imagined he would even hint that she would steal from an intern. Her lips pressed into a tight line, refusing to yield. "It's my room, Zachary. I said I didn't take it, and that's that. Why should she get to rum- mage through my things?" Zachary's brows knitted, frustration flaring. "If you didn't take it, why are you so defensive? Just let her search, and once your innocence is proven, the matter is settled, isn't it?" Before she could respond, he reached out and, with a rough shove, pushed Emmaline aside to clear the doorway. Caught off guard, Emmaline stumbled and fell, her palms scraping painfully against the rough concrete floor. "Zachary!" she gasped, shock and fury mingling in her voice. But he was already swinging her bedroom door open and gesturing to Juanita. "Go ahead, Nita. Look for it." Juanita cast a timid glance at Emmaline on the floor, then hurried inside. She barely had to rummage before pulling the gemstone pendant out from beneath a pillow. However, the necklace string was broken, and the pendant itself had a visible crack running across it. "Dr. Walsh, it really was you!" Juanita's lips quivered as she stared at it. "You've always been so kind to me. If you liked it, you could have just said so. I would have given it to you. But why would you take it in secret? And why do you have to break it... You know how important it is to me..." Emmaline's mind reeled. She'd never touched the pendant, never even seen it up close. "You're framing me!" she shouted, trembling with rage. "I didn't take your pendant! You planted it there yourself!" Zachary's face darkened, his anger boiling over. He stepped fully in front of Juanita, shielding her as he glared at Em- maline. "Enough, Emmaline! You stole her pendant, broke it, and now you're accusing her of lying? When did you 0.0 % 10:01 Chapter 4 become so... so unreasonable?" 288 Vouchers "Unreasonable?" Emmaline's voice shook, her heart numb with pain as she stared at the man she'd loved for a life- time. "Zachary, can't you see this is a setup? Why would I steal her pendant? What possible reason would I have to break it?" "That's for you to answer!" he snapped, his tone cutting. "You're her mentor, and you do something like this? I'm dis- appointed in you." His eyes flicked to the cracked pendant in Juanita's hand, then to Emmaline's flushed, furious face. Without warning, he reached out and yanked the andesite emerald pendant from Emmaline's neck-the one she'd worn for years. It was the pendant he'd crafted for her eighteenth birthday, scouring every jewelry shop in Detroit for the perfect stone, learning to carve and polish it himself. He'd etched a tiny "ZH" into it, his initials a quiet promise. When he'd slipped it around her neck, his eyes had sparkled with devotion. "Emma, we don't have family heirlooms, so I made this for you. It's our legacy. Wear it always-never take it off, not even to shower or sleep. It means you're mine." He couldn't have forgotten those words or what the pendant meant to her. Yet now, he held the still-warm emerald and thrust it into Juanita's hands. "Take this as compensation," he said, his voice cold and punitive. Emmaline reached up and touched her bare neck. The skin still stung where the cord had snapped, but that pain was nothing compared to the one tearing through her chest. That pendant had carried a lifetime of love and faith-and he had just handed it away, as if it were nothing. A hollow laugh escaped her, tinged with desolation and a strange, liber- ating clarity. Suppressing the searing pain in her chest, she rose slowly from the floor, brushing the dust from her hands. Her voice was eerily calm, almost lifeless. "Fine. Give it to her." Zachary froze, staring at her as if she were a stranger. He'd expected her to crumble, to beg for the pendant's return. He'd been so sure she'd cling to it-and to him. But her swift agreement and the absence of longing in her eyes unset- tled him. For the first time, he sensed that Emmaline no longer cared. Not about the pendant, and also not about him. 57.7 % ar 10:01