Chapter 5 - The Wedding Timeline
Claire believed Vivienne had disappeared voluntarily.
Dominic told her that Vivienne entered a private psychiatric program after abandoning Sophia.
He claimed temporary custody had been delayed only because attorneys were protecting Vivienne’s privacy.
Claire did not ask why Dominic never had the baby.
She wanted to believe him.
Then investigators recovered deleted messages from Dominic’s cloud account.
Three days before the blizzard, he wrote to Beatrice:
Once she is out, we file immediately. Claire cannot know the timeline.
Beatrice replied:
Make sure there are no witnesses.
Another message concerned the mountain house alarm system.
Dominic disabled the automated emergency alert that would normally notify security when an exterior door opened during extreme weather.
He also canceled the overnight caretaker without telling Vivienne.
The storm was not an impulsive opportunity.
It was part of a plan to force her out, portray her as unstable, and obtain emergency custody before she could challenge the Hale family trust.
Sophia’s birth had triggered a financial clause Dominic had hidden from Vivienne.
A substantial portion of the Hale estate would pass into a protected trust controlled jointly by both parents.
Dominic could not access it alone unless Vivienne died, disappeared, or was declared legally incapable.
The wedding created one more contradiction.
Its planning began four months before Sophia was born.
Invoices for the ballroom, flowers, and Claire’s dress were paid while Dominic still publicly described himself as a devoted husband.
Claire had been his fiancée before Vivienne ever entered the snow.
She simply did not know it.
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Fiona printed the timeline and placed it inside the sealed envelope.
Vivienne decided she would deliver it herself.
