Darcy looked towards the heavy mahogany door on the other side of his office waiting for me to voice the questions that I was dying to ask, but I wanted to hear the entire story before I asked anything.
"No questions, Elizabeth?" Darcy queried with a slight smile.
"Nope. Please continue."
Darcy took a deep, measured breath before declaring that the next part of the story was the hardest to tell.

"Gigi, are you still here? I thought you would have left by now." I yelled up as I took the stairs two by two. Although I was in a hurry, Gigi always came first and if she was still here, something had to be wrong. "Gigi, are you sick or something? Your plane is leaving in twenty minutes and the airport is a thirty minute drive from here. I thought you were excited -"
I froze mid sentence as I pushed open my little sister's door to reveal the tear soaked, pathetic heap of flesh and clothing lying forlornly in the middle of my sister's carpeted bedroom floor.
"William?" A very disheveled Gigi lifted her head and squinted towards the door. "William! Oh William, I'm so naive and stupid. Please, don't hate me. Please don't."
"I could never hate you," I whispered as I sat on the floor and cradled the sobbing Gigi in my arms, "Tell me what the matter is, and I promise that I won't hate you no matter what you say."
"Even if I told you that I allowed someone to pawn off Mom's necklace." The necklace in question of course was a one-of-a-kind thin strand of small identical diamonds surrounding a magnificently cut and extremely rare blue diamond. Valued at just over seven million dollars, the necklace was not the Darcy's most expensive heirloom but it meant everything to William and Gigi because it was their mother's most treasured possession.
"You what?" I asked with a very noticeable edge to my voice.
"You promised not to get angry," Gigi cried out as a fresh wave of tears coursed down her face, "I already realize how d-dumb I was, how f-foolish. I can't - Will I'm so s-sorry."
"No," I calmly said as I held my sister closer, "you're not dumb, and I'm sorry for getting angry. Please, just tell me what happened."
"I trusted him; I was so stupid. I -I let him see the safe where the necklace was kept and he must have seen the code when I put it in and gone back and put it in when I went downstairs. Then he took the necklace and left THIS - as if I didn't feel pathetic enough."
I picked up the note which simply stated: 'I wonder how much this necklace will get me if I sell it to the right person? Maybe, I'll get more selling it back to Darce? Nah, I'm sure he'll be much angrier if I sell it to some greedy Pawnee who will cut up the necklace and sell off each piece individually. It doesn't matter anyway. Thanks again for the code, Peach. - George Wickham'
I pulled Gigi even closer as I silently seethed with anger. "Don't worry, Gigi. It's not your fault. George was a family friend and you had no reason not to trust him, but I promise, I'll get that necklace back."
"He's probably already sold it," Gigi replied despondently, "He left over an hour ago. How are you going to get it back before he sells it?"
I mentally went through every pawn shop in the area. "I promised didn't I? Now, get up and get ready. You're flying out on the next possible flight."
I helped Gigi to her feet and prepared to leave.
"Wait, William," Gigi called out before flying into my arms and squeezing me tight, "I love you."

I looked down at my little sister and kissed the top of her head. "I love you too."

"Elizabeth... are you crying?"

"No," I hissed as I discreetly wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes.

"Yes, your story was touching; but I definitely was not crying.

"Whatever you say," Darcy grinned, "Now, where was I..."

"Mr. Reynolds, I need you to take me to the pawn shop on Baker Street. Quickly. It's a matter of extreme importance."
"Of course, Sir," Mr. Reynolds nodded before starting the car and speeding off in the direction of Mrs. Darcy's invaluable necklace. It only took me a few calls to find which pawn shop was the lucky recipient of the precious heirloom. Better still, the pawn shop owner was a smart man who thought it sketchy that a man like George Wickham legally came across a necklace of that magnitude. The necklace was in the pawn shop owner's hands and George had not yet been given a single dime for the piece because the pawn shop owner had claimed to need to appraise the necklace before offering a price. If Darcy was lucky he could get back the necklace and have Wickham arrested when he came to pick up the necklace tomorrow.
"Hello, Mr. Darcy. What a pleasure to have such a fine man as yourself grace my humble shop." The pawn shop owner smiled an easy smile that could charm more easily swayed patrons into buying items they didn't need and selling items they did need.
"The pleasures all mine. Of course, you have the necklace?" I asked impatiently.
"Ah yes. Here it is." The shop owner procured the jewelry seemingly out of nowhere but was reluctant to hand it over. "Technically, this necklace belongs to the gentleman who gave it to me earlier and he is prepared to receive much, much less than the worth of this exquisite piece of finery which will set me up to be a very rich man indeed. I do not consider myself greedy, Mr. Darcy, but what is to keep me from resisting the temptation of so great a sum of money?"
In a display of controlled rage I grabbed the collar of the sleazy man's collar and lowered my voice to a menacing whisper, "If you don't give me that necklace right now, I'll tear your lungs out of your chest and feed it to your dog. Understood?"
"Yes," the man said with narrowed eyes as he handed over the necklace and re-adjusted his clothes before quickly glancing at the aforementioned canine, "very much so."
"Good," I declared as I snatched the necklace out of the plump, sweaty fingers of the greedy man and made my exit.

Wickham did not stop by the shop the next day or the days after that most likely due to an anonymous tip he received, but I didn't care. The necklace was returned and George Wickham was once again out of my life.

"Only to later return to wreak more havoc on the Darcy household," I interjected with a smirk.
Darcy let out a low chuckle. "How right you are Miss Elizabeth, but that's a story for another day. It's getting late, and I have a seven o' clock conference call in the morning. I promise to tell you the rest of the story tomorrow."
"What if you're inundated with papers and never leave your office."
"I promised, didn't I?"