Chapter 2 - Three Hours Before the Toast.
Three hours earlier, Claire Hale had believed the worst thing that might happen at her brother's wedding was an awkward speech.
She had been wrong before she even zipped her dress.
The warning came from a server named Tessa who found Claire near the east corridor and slipped a folded note into her palm.
"Don't open it here."
Claire stared at the young woman.
"What is this?"
Tessa glanced toward the bridal suite.
"Something Mrs. Hale needs to see before the ceremony."
"There is no Mrs. Hale yet."
Tessa's face tightened.
"That's the point."
Inside the note was a photocopy of a bank transfer for nine hundred thousand dollars from the Hale Family Relief Foundation to a private company Claire did not recognize.
The authorization carried Victor's signature.
Claire knew it was fake.
Her father signed every foundation transfer with a fountain pen using dark blue ink, while the copy showed a sharp black digital signature.
At the bottom of the page was a second name.
Celeste Arden.
Claire felt her stomach turn.
She had warned Adrian for months that his fiancee's stories never lined up.
Celeste had claimed to come from old money, yet none of the relatives she mentioned ever appeared.
She had claimed she had left a prestigious charity job because she wanted a quieter life, yet every former coworker Claire contacted had refused to speak about her.
Adrian had accused Claire of jealousy.
Victor had asked her to give Celeste a chance.
So Claire had stopped asking questions in public.
She had not stopped asking them in private.
She tucked the transfer into her clutch and went to find Adrian.
Celeste found her first.
The bride appeared at the end of the corridor with two bridesmaids behind her.
"Claire."
Her smile was bright enough for photographs.
"I need you for one tiny thing."
Claire did not move.
"Where is Adrian?"
"Getting sentimental with Dad."
Celeste's eyes dropped to Claire's clutch.
"What are you holding?"
"Lipstick."
"Then you won't mind coming with me."
The bridal suite smelled of roses and expensive perfume.
The moment Claire stepped inside, the door clicked shut behind her.
The bridesmaids were gone.
Celeste locked the door.
"Give me the paper."
Claire's heartbeat accelerated.
"What paper?"
Celeste's smile disappeared.
"I don't have time for your little investigations today."
Claire backed toward the vanity.
"Did you steal from my father's foundation?"
Celeste laughed once.
"Steal is such an ugly word."
"Nine hundred thousand dollars is an ugly number."
"You have no idea what that money was for."
"Then explain it."
Celeste stepped closer.
"I don't explain myself to women who think family blood makes them untouchable."
Claire reached for the door.
Celeste grabbed her arm.
The first shove sent Claire into the edge of a marble console.
The second knocked the breath from her lungs.
Claire tried to fight back, but Celeste seized the back of her gown and drove her hard against the wall.
Pain exploded across Claire's shoulder blades.
"Stop!"
"Give me the copy."
Claire held her clutch against her chest.
Celeste hit her again with the flat side of a heavy silver hairbrush.
Once.
Twice.
Then again across the back where the dress dipped low.
Claire bit down on a cry.
"No."
Celeste's voice turned almost gentle.
"Your brother will choose me."
Claire looked at her through tears of pain.
"Then he deserves to know what he's choosing."
Celeste tore the clutch away, found the transfer, and ripped it into pieces.
Then she opened the door.
"Fix your makeup."
Claire stared at her.
"You're insane."
Celeste smiled again.
"And in forty minutes, I'll be a Hale."
Claire waited until the door shut.
Then she reached beneath the lining of her clutch and pulled out her phone.
The photocopy had been a decoy.
May you like
The original transfer was still hidden inside her phone case.
And the entire attack had been recording.
