CHAPTER 1: THE CRACK IN THE GLASS
The music hadn’t stopped—but everything else had.
Guests stood frozen beneath the chandeliers, champagne glasses suspended mid-air like time itself had stalled. The bride’s voice—sharp, controlled—cut through the tension.
“She’s lying.”
Ethan’s heartbeat thundered in his ears. He looked from Lila—the waitress still standing too close, her breath uneven—to Vanessa, his bride, flawless in white, eyes blazing with something deeper than anger.
Fear.
“Say it again,” Ethan demanded, quieter this time. Dangerous.
Lila swallowed. “Your fiancée set this whole thing up. The deal, the investors, the merger—none of it is real. She’s using you.”
A ripple moved through the crowd.
Vanessa laughed—but it came out too fast. Too forced. “This is insane. She’s a waitress, Ethan. You’re going to believe her?”
But Ethan didn’t answer.
Because something clicked.
The delayed paperwork. The investors who never showed their faces. The contract Vanessa insisted he sign tonight—tonight, at their wedding.
“Where did you get that information?” Ethan asked Lila.
She hesitated—then reached into her vest and pulled out a small flash drive.
“I didn’t want to do this here,” she whispered. “But you didn’t leave me a choice.”
Vanessa’s smile vanished.
“Don’t plug that in,” she snapped. “Ethan, if you trust me at all—”
May you like
But Ethan had already turned.
“Get me a screen.”
