Chapter 1 - THE PENDANT
Ethan Cole heard his daughter cry before he reached the bridal suite.
Not the frustrated whine of a seven-year-old whose shoes hurt.
Not nerves.
Pain.
He shoved the dressing-room door open.
Victoria had one fist twisted in Lily's hair.
His daughter was trapped beside the vanity, flower-girl dress crushed against the drawers, tears running down her face.
Victoria yanked Lily's head backward.
Then slapped her.
Hard.
Lily's cheek flashed red.
“Tell me where you hid it!”
The room went silent around the sound.
Victoria's veil was still perfectly pinned.
Her dress was untouched.
White flowers stood in crystal vases.
Nothing looked ruined except the little girl shaking beside the vanity.
Ethan stopped for half a second.
That was all.
“Dad!”
Lily pulled free and stumbled toward him.
Ethan crossed the room.
He caught her.
Put her behind him.
Then turned.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Victoria's face was flushed.
She grabbed the wedding bouquet from the vanity and held it against her chest almost like a shield.
“She ruined everything!”
Ethan looked at Lily.
At the bright mark across her cheek.
Then at Victoria.
Her veil was intact.
Her gown was intact.
The room was intact.
“What did she ruin?”
Victoria's breathing was too fast.
“She went through my things.”
“That doesn't answer me.”
“She took something.”
“You hit her.”
“She wouldn't tell me where she put it!”
Lily began crying harder behind him.
Ethan looked over his shoulder.
“You okay?”
She nodded because children often lie when they want adults to stop fighting.
Ethan's face changed.
He turned back toward Victoria.
Then he saw the bouquet.
Something about her holding flowers while his daughter's face was red made anger move faster than judgment.
He snatched the bouquet from her hands.
Victoria gasped.
Ethan hurled it.
The flowers hit her across the chest and shoulder.
White roses broke apart.
Petals scattered over the carpet.
Victoria staggered against the vanity.
The second Ethan released the bouquet, he knew throwing it had been unnecessary.
That fact would remain true even if everything else she had done was worse.
He did not apologize yet.
He stayed between her and Lily.
Victoria stared at him.
“You don't understand.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“I understand enough.”
Lily tugged his shirt.
“Daddy.”
He turned immediately.
She was holding her flower basket with both hands.
“What?”
Lily glanced at Victoria.
Victoria's face changed.
“Lily.”
Ethan looked back at her.
“Don't.”
Lily opened the basket.
Under rose petals and ribbon sat a small silver pendant.
She picked it up carefully.
Placed it in Ethan's palm.
“Daddy… I found this in Victoria’s room.”
Ethan looked down.
The pendant was old.
Oval.
Silver darkened around the hinge.
It had already been opened.
Inside was a tiny photograph of a woman Ethan had never seen.
Maybe thirty.
Dark blond hair.
Pale eyes.
A serious expression.
Not Victoria.
Not anyone Ethan recognized.
He looked up.
Victoria had gone completely white.
Her hands dropped to her sides.
Her breathing became short and shallow.
She stared at the tiny photograph as though Lily had pulled a weapon from the basket.
Ethan slowly closed his fingers around the pendant.
Then raised his eyes to the woman he had been planning to marry in forty-three minutes.
May you like
Victoria did not speak.
For the first time since he entered the room, she looked more frightened than Lily.
