Chapter 1 - The Drive to the Grand Oaks
The phone call from my cousin hung in the air like a live wire, the dial tone buzzing in my ear before I even had the chance to process her frantic warning.
Amelia just interrupted the wedding ceremony in front of EVERYONE.
Panic clawed at my throat, tight and sharp. I looked down at my other three children, who were still curled together beneath the fleece blanket, blinking up at me with wide, innocent eyes from the safety of the living room couch.
"Mommy? Is everything okay?" my seven-year-old son asked, his small hand clutching a stuffed bear.
"I have to go out for a little while, sweethearts," I managed to say, forcing a steady smile onto my face while my heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. "Aunt Chloe needs my help. Aunt Sarah is going to stay right here with you guys. Keep watching your show, okay?"
I didn't wait for answers. I grabbed my car keys off the kitchen counter, slipped into my boots, and bolted out the front door into the brisk afternoon air.
The drive to Grand Oaks Country Club—the sprawling, high-end venue where Ryan and my sister Claire were currently hosting their expensive, tone-deaf celebration—felt like a fever dream. The sky overhead was a heavy, bruised gray, matching the storm brewing inside my chest. How could I have been so foolish to let nine-year-old Amelia go into that lion's den alone? My mother had promised to watch her, but my mother’s definition of watching over someone meant shielding Claire from any discomfort, no matter who else got burned in the process.
As I sped down the highway, my hands gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles turned white. What had Amelia done? Was she crying? Had someone said something cruel to her? The thought of my little girl standing amidst a room full of smiling, judgmental relatives—people who had whispered behind my back and told me to just "accept the situation"—filled me with a cold, blinding fury.
Ten minutes later, the grand iron gates of Grand Oaks came into view. Valet attendants in matching charcoal suits stood outside the glass-fronted ballroom, looking completely bewildered.
I didn't bother looking for a parking spot. I whipped my sedan right up onto the circular drive, threw it into park, and jumped out before the engine had even fully cut out.
The heavy oak doors of the main ballroom were slightly ajar, and from inside, cutting through the heavy silence of the venue, came a sound I never expected to hear at a wedding.
Laughter.
May you like
Or rather, a sharp, collective gasp followed by a heavy, stunned hush.
I pushed the doors open and stepped into the back of the grand hall.
