The Morning After the Wedding
Chapter 09 - The Morning After the Wedding
Emily woke the next morning in the hotel bridal suite alone.
She was still legally married.
She did not feel married.
Her wedding gown hung over a chair.
The train was stained with frosting from the ballroom floor.
Ryan had spent the night at the police station giving a statement.
Vivian was with her attorney.
The guests had gone home.
By sunrise, the story was already online.
WEDDING DISASTER AT CALDWELL RECEPTION.
MOTHER-IN-LAW QUESTIONED AFTER CAKE COLLAPSE.
FOUNDATION SCANDAL RUMORS.
Emily turned off her phone.
Then someone knocked.
It was Hannah.
She carried coffee and a paper bag.
Inside the bag was a small slice of cake.
Emily stared at it.
"I saved it before the staff cleaned everything," Hannah said.
The cake was crushed and ugly.
Emily took one bite.
Vanilla.
Lemon.
A little too much almond.
Exactly like her mother's recipe.
Emily began to cry.
Not because of the cake.
Because after one night inside the Caldwell family's secrets, she could finally feel what had been stolen from her.
A simple day.
A clean beginning.
A memory that should have belonged to love.
Hannah sat beside her.
"What are you going to do?"
Emily looked at the wedding ring on the table.
"I don't know."
Her phone rang.
Ryan.
She almost ignored it.
Then she answered.
"Emily, we found where some of the money went."
"Where?"
"To properties."
"What properties?"
There was a long pause.
"Properties in your father's name."
Emily stood.
"My father has been dead for nine years."
"I know."
Her grief disappeared beneath a colder feeling.
"Ryan, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying your family may have been connected to mine before we ever met."
May you like
Emily stared at the saved piece of wedding cake.
Suddenly, even her mother's recipe felt like evidence.
