Chapter 3 - Alyssa Protects Her Secret
Alyssa placed both hands over her pregnant stomach.
The gesture looked maternal to anyone who wanted to believe her.
To Grace, it looked defensive.
A barrier.
A shield.
A way to direct attention toward the unborn baby and away from the envelope in Connor’s hand.
Alyssa had been glowing when Grace entered.
Proud.
Victorious.
The beautiful bride with lace trailing behind her and a groom who had once belonged to another woman.
Now her breathing was shallow.
Her veil trembled behind her shoulders.
Her eyes darted from Connor to the envelope to the guests.
“Tell them,” she said to Connor.
He stared at her.
Alyssa’s voice cracked.
“Tell them she’s doing this because she lost you.”
Grace nearly laughed.
Lost.
As if Connor had been stolen.
As if betrayal were a prize.
As if Brinley had not spent her first weeks alive listening to her mother cry in a dark nursery while legal notices and unpaid clinic invoices arrived in the mail.
Grace did not say that.
Not here.
Not yet.
She only looked at Connor.
“Tell them why you know that envelope.”
Connor swallowed.
Betsy stepped in front of him.
“She knows nothing. She is trying to destroy a wedding.”
Grace’s face hardened.
“This wedding was built on destruction.”
The guests’ silence deepened.
Alyssa grabbed Connor’s sleeve.
“Connor, don’t let her do this.”
He finally looked at her fully.
Something broke in his expression.
Not heartbreak.
Suspicion.
That was the first crack in the perfect couple.
Alyssa saw it and panicked harder.
She turned toward the guests.
“She’s lying about everything!”
But her voice was too high.
Too desperate.
Too late.
Connor lowered the page.
“What did you hide from me?”
Alyssa recoiled as though he had struck her, though he had not touched her.
Grace’s heart pounded.
That question was not enough.
Not an answer.
Not justice.
But it was the first time Connor’s disbelief turned away from Grace and toward the woman in the wedding gown.
Brinley stirred again.
Grace held her closer.
The baby remained safe, warm, and supported.
Grace looked at Alyssa’s hands over her stomach.
Then at Connor’s wedding ring.
Then at the half-open report.
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The ballroom had become a place where every body was guarding a secret.
Read Chapter 4 👉 Because Alyssa tried to make Grace look unstable, but Connor’s first question exposed who he was truly doubting.
