Chapter 3 - Vanessa’s Hand on Daniel’s Arm
Vanessa’s hand tightened around Daniel’s arm until her nails pressed through his navy suit.
For the first time that night, she looked less like a bride and more like an accomplice startled by light.
“Tell me she didn’t send that,” she hissed.
Daniel kept staring toward the rear of the church.
Claire had not moved.
The borrowed veil covered part of her face, but he could still see her eyes.
Wet.
Furious.
Terrifyingly awake.
He tried to breathe slowly.
He tried to become the man who could talk his way through anything.
A private ceremony could be reframed.
A hidden marriage could be explained.
A photograph could be called misleading.
A wife could be called unstable.
But only if he reached the story first.
Claire had reached someone else first.
Begin everything at eight sharp.
The phrase echoed in his skull, even though he had not heard who was on the other end.
Vanessa turned toward the guests and forced a smile so sudden it looked grotesque.
“Everything is fine,” she said too softly for the room.
No one believed her.
Daniel lowered his phone, but he could not stop looking at it.
The image on the unreadable screen had destroyed the safety of secrecy.
The priest shifted near the altar.
“Mr. Mercer?”
Daniel flinched at the name.
Mercer.
Claire’s name.
His legal name beside hers.
The priest’s confusion deepened.
Vanessa looked sharply at Daniel.
“Did you use the same name?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Not now.”
“Not now?” Her lips trembled. “She’s standing there.”
“Yes, Vanessa. I can see that.”
The edge in his voice cracked her remaining bridal glow.
Claire took one step out from behind the pillar.
Only one.
The guests reacted as if she had crossed the entire aisle.
Her black coat moved softly around her knees.
Her delicate gold necklace glinted beneath the dark veil.
Her smartphone remained in one hand.
In the other, barely visible near her coat, was a small camera.
Daniel saw it and nearly stopped breathing.
A photograph was not all she had.
Vanessa followed his gaze and whispered, “How long was she watching?”
Claire’s face answered before Daniel could.
May you like
Long enough.
Read Chapter 4 👉 Because Vanessa realized Claire’s phone was only one part of the trap, and the small camera in her hand meant the ceremony had been watched from the beginning.
