CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 4
Madison walked closer to the bed.
“I don’t like waiting,” she said. “You told me after the wedding, we’d finally stop hiding.”
Ethan’s shoes turned toward her.
“And we will.”
Vanessa clicked her tongue.
“Not until Emma looks unstable enough. The poor betrayed bride act won’t help us unless Ethan looks like the victim.”
I felt sick.
They had planned everything.
The romance.
The rushed house purchase.
The wedding.
Even the collapse of my reputation.
Ethan said, “By morning, she’ll think she imagined everything.”
Madison laughed softly. “And if she doesn’t?”
Vanessa answered before he could.
“Then we make everyone believe she did.”
The room tilted around me.
Then Ethan moved.
His shoes stopped near the side of the bed.
Too close.
For a second, nobody spoke.
I saw his hand drop.
He picked up the edge of my wedding dress.
The lace had slipped out from beneath the bed.
Silence.
Then Ethan whispered, “Emma?”
Vanessa’s glass stopped moving.
Madison took one step back.
I closed my eyes for one breath.
Then I slid out from beneath the bed, still holding my phone.
My dress was dusty. My makeup was streaked. My hands were shaking.
But my voice was calm.
“My father’s lawyers heard every word.”
Ethan stared at the phone.
The red recording light was still glowing.
Vanessa’s face drained of color.
Madison’s hand tightened over her stomach.
Ethan tried to smile.
“Emma, baby, this is not what it sounds like.”
May you like
I looked at the man I had married two hours earlier.
“It sounds like fraud.”
