Chapter 3 - The Midnight Secret
The text message seemed to burn through the screen of my phone.
Ask your fiancé what he was doing in the bridal suite with your sister at 2:00 AM.
My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped bird. I looked across the manicured courtyard of the Grand Oak Manor. Daniel was standing by the fountain, talking to his father. He looked exhausted, his hand resting instinctively over his abdomen where his surgical scars were still healing. He looked completely innocent.
But Jenna was a master of manipulation. She had been a real estate agent for ten years; she knew how to find the weak spot in any contract, and any person.
"Mia? Are you okay?"
I jumped. Daniel’s mother, Helen, was standing beside me, her eyes filled with concern. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I... I'm fine, Helen," I lied, quickly locking my phone and slipping it into my pocket. "Just overwhelmed. It's been a lot."
"Don't let her get to you, sweetie," Helen said, placing a warm hand on my shoulder. "We know what she did. We are going to help you pay back everyone. We don't care about the eighteen thousand. We just want you and Daniel to be happy."
I squeezed her hand, but my mind was miles away. I couldn't tell her about the text. If I did, and it was a lie, I would look paranoid. If it was true... it would destroy more than just a wedding. It would destroy my life.
I excused myself and walked toward the venue’s main office, located in the historic manor house adjacent to the ballroom. The venue coordinator, a young woman named Chloe, was sitting at her desk, looking stressed as she shuffled papers.
"Chloe?" I called out softly.
She looked up, her face instantly turning apologetic. "Oh, Mia! I am so, so sorry about what happened at the brunch. I had no idea your sister was... well, that she hadn't paid us with the money everyone raised. She paid the venue deposit with her corporate credit card."
"It's okay, Chloe. I know you were just doing your job," I said, stepping inside and closing the heavy oak door behind me. "I actually need a favor. A very big, confidential favor."
Chloe blinked. "Okay? What is it?"
"I need to see the security footage from last night. Specifically, the hallway outside the bridal suite. Around 2:00 AM."
Chloe’s expression shifted from stressed to deeply uncomfortable. She looked down at her desk, her fingers tapping nervously on her keyboard. "Mia... I don't think that's a good idea. Venue policy strictly prohibits sharing security footage with guests unless there is an active police investigation."
"Chloe, please," I pleaded, my voice cracking. "Someone sent me a message. They told me my fiancé and my sister were in that suite together last night. If something happened... if I am about to marry someone who is betraying me, I need to know before I walk down that aisle tomorrow."
Chloe looked at me, her eyes softening with pity. She sighed heavily, rubbing her temples. "Mia... your sister is the lead planner on file. She has keys to every room in this facility. She was here very late last night setting up the decorations."
"And Daniel?" I asked, my heart stopping. "Was Daniel here?"
Chloe didn't answer. She simply turned her computer screen toward me.
She clicked through a few folders, entered a security password, and pulled up the camera feed for "Hallway C – Bridal Suite." The timestamp at the top of the black-and-white video read: 02:14:03 AM.
The hallway was dimly lit. The camera showed the door to the bridal suite—the luxurious room where I was supposed to get dressed the next morning.
A figure appeared from the stairwell. It was Jenna. She was wearing a silk robe, her hair down. She walked to the door, unlocked it with a master key card, and went inside.
Two minutes later, another figure walked down the hall.
My stomach dropped.
It was Daniel. He was wearing his gray sweatpants and a dark hoodie. He looked around nervously, his hand on his stomach as if he were in pain. He stopped in front of the bridal suite door.
He didn't knock. He simply turned the handle, opened the door, and walked inside.
I stared at the screen, my hands starting to shake.
The video continued to play. The minutes ticked by.
02:18 AM. 02:25 AM. 02:35 AM.
They were inside together. For twenty minutes.
Finally, at 02:38 AM, the door opened. Daniel walked out. He looked flushed, his hoodie slightly askew. He wiped his face with his hand, looked down both ends of the hallway, and then quickly walked back toward the guest cottages.
Five minutes later, Jenna came out. She was smiling. A slow, satisfied, triumphant smile. She adjusted her robe, locked the door, and walked away.
I sat down in the chair opposite Chloe's desk, the air completely knocked out of my lungs.
"Mia," Chloe whispered, reaching across the desk to touch my hand. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to show you, but... you deserved to know."
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't speak.
Daniel. The man who had held my hand through my father's funeral. The man whose bedside I had sat by for three weeks while he fought a massive post-surgery infection. The man who had just told me, in front of everyone, that he would marry me in a park if we lost everything.
Was he sleeping with my sister?
"No," I whispered to myself, shaking my head. "No, this doesn't make sense. Daniel hates Jenna. He knows what she is."
"Sometimes," Chloe said softly, "people do desperate things when they are under pressure. Your sister is very wealthy, Mia. Maybe... maybe she offered him something. Or maybe she threatened him."
I stood up, my shock suddenly hardening into a cold, burning anger.
I didn't cry. I had cried enough over the last year. I had survived Daniel’s medical bills, I had survived my sister’s constant belittling, and I was going to survive this.
"Can you copy this footage to a flash drive for me, Chloe?" I asked, my voice completely flat, devoid of any emotion.
"Mia, if my boss finds out—"
"He won't," I interrupted, looking her dead in the eye. "But if you don't give me this footage, I will call the police right now and report a theft of eighteen thousand dollars on your property, which will tie this entire venue up in a legal investigation for the next six months. Your boss will lose a lot more than a job."
Chloe stared at me, terrified by the sudden ice in my demeanor. Without another word, she plugged a black USB drive into her computer, downloaded the file, and handed it to me.
"What are you going to do?" she asked, her voice trembling.
I took the flash drive and slipped it into my pocket, right next to the tax lien documents.
"I'm going to let my sister have her perfect wedding," I whispered. "And then, I am going to burn her world to the ground."
I walked out of the office and back into the sunlight. I saw Daniel walking toward me, a worried smile on his face.
"Hey," he said, reaching out to hug me. "Where did you go? I was looking for you."
I let him hug me, but I didn't hug him back. My body was as stiff as a board.
"Just talking to the coordinator," I said, looking into his eyes, searching for any sign of guilt. "Are you feeling okay? Your stomach isn't hurting?"
"A little sore," he said, rubbing his abdomen. "But I'm okay. Ready for tomorrow. Are you?"
"Oh, I'm ready, Daniel," I said, smiling a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "I've never been more ready for anything in my life."
As we walked back to our cottage, my phone buzzed again. Another text from the unknown number.
“He bought her a necklace, Mia. It’s in his jacket pocket. Ask him where he got the money for it.”
My heart stopped again. I looked at Daniel’s coat hanging on the back of our cottage door.
As soon as he went into the bathroom to take a shower, I ran to the coat. I reached into the inner pocket.
My fingers brushed against a small, velvet box.
I pulled it out and opened it. Inside was a diamond necklace. Dainty, expensive, and beautiful.
May you like
And tucked beneath the velvet cushion was a receipt.
Date: Yesterday. Price: $4,500. Paid by: Jenna Vance-Harlowe.
