Matthieu had been born in the family’s days of poverty and disgrace, fourteen years after the end of the war. His father had disappeared, and his mother had died shortly after he was born. The article said that Matthieu had grown up in Jesuit boarding schools as an orphan, and his mission had become to restore the family name and rebuild their fortune. He worked hard and saved his money, bought back the family château when he was able to, and systematically purchased failing, long-established luxury brands. He restored them to glory, and turned an immense profit, until he owned the largest conglomerate of luxury brands in the world. It took him most of his life to do it, but his story was one of extraordinary success rebuilding what his family had destroyed and lost, and then donating vast amounts to French charities. He had a very unusual biography. Both of his early marriages were unsuccessful, but his marriage to the American, Theodora Morgan, was supposedly a happy one. The article said he had one son, who was the heir to the vast Pasquier fortune his father had built from the ashes of what his family had once been. Their money was clean now. Matthieu had atoned for his ancestors’ sins, but sadly, Mike realized, the boy was gone. He had died after the article was written. It all belonged to Theo now, as well as the château and all of her late husband’s holdings. He was still alive when the article had appeared in Le Figaro, and there was a photo of the three of them with the château behind them. Matthieu looked stern in the photograph—he was brilliant and seemed somewhat tormented, from what Mike read about him—and Theo had Axel in her arms. He looked to be about two or three years old. Happier times for her. Now she was one of the richest women in France, but had lost what was dearest to her in the world.

Mike thought about having seen her that night in the back room of the pop-up store, as she wrapped his package for him—the pretend gift for his sister, who would never even see it. His sister would have laughed at him if he gave it to her. He had no idea why, but he had felt compelled to meet Theo. She was such an obvious target for dangerous criminals now, her circumstances were well known, too much so, and there was a fragility to her that brought out all of Mike’s protective instincts.