The Woman Who Wanted Me Gone
Chapter 06 - The Woman Who Wanted Me Gone
Margaret Brooks had never pretended to like me.
She was polite in public.
That was worse.
Politeness gave her cruelty a clean place to hide.
When Daniel and I started dating, she called me “the baker” for six months before using my name. When we got engaged, she asked whether Daniel had considered a longer engagement “just to be certain.”
And when the knife fell from my wedding dress, she was the first person to make the question sound like a verdict.
So when Nate said she had been with Lauren, I believed the worst before I had evidence.
That frightened me.
I called Margaret.
She answered on the second ring.
“I wondered when you would call.”
“I need to see you.”
“I agree.”
She came to the bakery forty minutes later.
No pearls.
No perfect navy suit.
Just gray slacks, a cardigan, and a face that looked ten years older than it had at the wedding.
Daniel stayed in the back office.
I asked him to.
This conversation had to be mine.
Margaret sat at a table near the window.
“Were you with Lauren when the cameras went off?”
“Yes.”
The answer came without hesitation.
My heart slammed.
“Why?”
“Because she called me.”
“What did she say?”
Margaret looked down.
“That you were having doubts.”
I stared at her.
“She said you had discovered something about Daniel. She said you were frightened to go through with the wedding but too embarrassed to tell everyone.”
“And you believed her.”
“I wanted to.”
There it was.
Not innocence.
Not guilt.
Something uglier because it was more ordinary.
Bias.
Margaret admitted Lauren asked her to meet near the bridal suite. When she arrived, Lauren was crying.
“She told me to wait by the stairs,” Margaret said. “She said she needed five minutes alone with you.”
“I wasn’t in the room.”
“I know that now.”
“Did you enter the bridal suite?”
“No.”
“Did you see her go inside?”
Margaret hesitated.
Then nodded.
The room went silent.
I gripped the edge of the table.
“You watched my sister enter the room where my dress was.”
“Yes.”
“And after the knife fell, you said nothing.”
Her eyes filled.
“I was ashamed.”
“Of what?”
“Of how quickly I decided it proved what I already wanted to believe about you.”
That answer stopped me.
Because it was honest.
Margaret reached into her purse.
She placed a small envelope on the table.
Inside were printed screenshots of text messages from Lauren.
One message read:
I just need Daniel away from her long enough for the truth to come out.
Another said:
Once he sees what she’s really capable of, he’ll thank you.
I looked up.
Margaret’s voice shook.
“I thought Lauren meant you were hiding something from Daniel.”
I read the final message.
It had been sent twelve minutes before the ceremony.
Don’t worry. After today, there won’t be a wedding.
May you like
The knife had not been an accident.
And my sister had planned the ending before I ever walked down the aisle.
