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THE ENVELOPE

Carmen stood still, the sealed envelope trembling slightly in her hand. The designer, Victor Hale, looked as though the walls were closing in on him.

“Don’t open that,” he said sharply, forcing a laugh that didn’t sound real. “You don’t even know what you’re holding.”

Carmen’s eyes didn’t move from his face.

“I know exactly what I’m holding,” she replied quietly. “It’s the truth you buried with my mother.”

A murmur spread through the guests. Phones lowered. Glasses stopped mid-air. Even the music technician had frozen at his console.

Victor stepped forward, lowering his voice.

“That woman stole designs. She was fired.”

Carmen let out a bitter laugh.

“No,” she said. “She was silenced.”

A tense silence followed.

Then, slowly, Carmen broke the seal.

Inside was a stack of aged documents—contracts, sketches, and handwritten notes. At the bottom
 a photograph.

A woman standing beside Victor in his early years, smiling next to a dress identical to the one displayed tonight.

But behind her eyes
 fear.

And on the back of the photo, one sentence written in faded ink:

“If anything happens to me, it wasn’t an accident.”

May you like

Gasps erupted across the ballroom.

Victor’s face drained completely of color.

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