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Prologue

Bill Bauer studied the enor in thewhen he found it, but now, it was evenbeen polished and cut to perfection

Bill had found the dia to shut down that part of thefrom it that they could

His tradition was to walk through the mine each day, and when the day came that he decided that part of the ain one more time He took the time to thank whatever power in the universe that had created the process that crushed carbon under ems known as diamonds

Without that process, he would have probably been a lawyer or an accountant—so on co black suits Instead, he traveled the world and got his hands dirty He took raw potential and made it possible for artists to create sheer beauty

Bill had been wildly successful Every year, he was listed anation that he could not have cared less about

His joy was in his work, in pulling beauty from the cold, hard earth

So, keeping to his tradition, he took the tih the mine the day before he shut that area down For so about his brother as he walked through theout to touch the dirt

If only Jack could see hi brother Bill worked hard and did right by his employees, and by any measure of the definition, he was successful Even as he prepared to close this section of theanother section up All he had in his future was more wealth and more success

He stopped and looked up and down the hed It didn’t round had been to him He didn’t have anyone to pass it on to

Maybe it was ti about that, too

Bill figured he’d never retire, not really He’d just mine until one day thehe could possibly want in this world But he could do so, too He’d talk to his lawyers about setting up a way to give his fortune away to people who could use it

Bill turned around to head back out, when he noticed a slight glint in the dirt Not even a shine, just a tiny wink of light caught his attention

He pulled out the trowel he usually carried with him and carefully carved out a line around the hunk of rock He scraped away the dirt and then gently pushed the rock back and forth to work it free of the ground There was ood half hour of cautious em free

As soon as he pulled it out of the dirt, he knew This hunk of co special, and when it was clean and polished, it would be so like the world had never seen before

Bill took his tieular inventory—it was unique, and he intended to treat it that way

He asked one of his closest business associates to cut and polish it, not trusting anyone else The finished product was exquisite, one of the finest dia to leave it loose, not wanting to di as mundane as metal wrapped around it

Eventually, word about his find got out He refused to sell the dia that if he ever needed ain

For years, he kept the best security on this singular dia it to people, and let it pass into legend Then, he planned to hide it away until it was needed the most

Bill didn’t think he’d ever need the diamond, but there was someone else ould, soivewould offer as much—if not more—financial security than the rest of his money