chapter 1
The church bells echoed across the city as hundreds of guests stood to welcome the perfect couple.
Sophia Hart looked breathtaking in her white gown. Beside her stood Ethan Carter, the handsome young CEO everyone admired. Cameras flashed from every direction. It was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives.
Then...
A trembling voice cut through the silence.
"Please... don't marry him."
Every head turned.
An old homeless woman, dressed in torn clothes and worn-out shoes, slowly climbed the cathedral steps with a rusted cane. Her gray hair was tangled, and people immediately covered their noses as she approached.
"What is she doing here?" someone whispered.
"Security!"
Sophia's mother glared at the woman.
"Get this filthy beggar away from my daughter's wedding!"
The guests laughed.
Someone even recorded the scene on their phone.
But the old woman didn't move.
Instead, she looked straight at Ethan.
Tears rolled down her wrinkled face.
"I've searched for you... for twenty-six years."
Ethan froze.
His face turned ghost white.
Sophia grabbed his arm.
"Ethan... do you know her?"
He didn't answer.
The old woman slowly reached into her worn coat and pulled out a tiny silver pocket watch, its surface scratched with age.
She held it toward Ethan.
"I promised your mother... I'd give this back to you."
The smile disappeared from Ethan's face.
His breathing became heavy.
No one understood why.
Sophia frowned.
"Ethan... what's happening?"
He whispered only one sentence.
"That watch... was buried with my mother."
The crowd instantly fell silent.
Impossible.
Everyone knew Ethan's mother had died in a house fire twenty-six years ago.
The police had identified the body.
The funeral had been attended by the entire town.
So...
How could the old woman be holding something that should have been inside the coffin?
Before anyone could ask another question...
The old woman leaned close enough that only Ethan could hear.
"I was there the night your mother disappeared."
Ethan's knees nearly gave out.
His heartbeat pounded louder than the church bells.
Because for the first time in his life...
He realized the greatest lie he'd ever believed might have begun on the day his mother supposedly died.
And someone standing inside this very wedding...
Had spent twenty-six years making sure the truth never came out.
The bride noticed Ethan staring—not at the old woman...
But at her father.
A man whose confident smile had suddenly vanished.
END OF CHAPTER 1
May you like
What secret connects the homeless woman, Ethan's "dead" mother, and Sophia's powerful family? And why did Sophia's father suddenly look terrified?
Scroll down to the comments for Chapter 2... the truth is even more shocking.
