Chapter 2 - THE STAIN
The champagne stain was an accident.
Every available piece of evidence eventually supported that.
Wedding camera footage showed a server named Jonah Price turning left with a tray.
I stepped backward because Vanessa was moving past me.
My elbow touched the tray.
One flute tilted.
Champagne struck Vanessa’s gown.
Jonah immediately put the tray down.
I grabbed a napkin.
Vanessa pulled away.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You weren’t watching.”
“I know.”
Then her eyes sharpened.
“You did that.”
“Vanessa.”
“You’ve been waiting all day.”
“For what?”
“For me to lose it.”
That sentence mattered.
She already believed someone wanted to provoke her.
Not merely ruin the dress.
Provoke her.
Why?
Because her new husband, Daniel Whitaker, had given her one condition six weeks before their wedding:
No more physical aggression.
Not a legal condition.
A relationship boundary.
Daniel knew Vanessa had a temper.
He did not know the full extent.
He had seen her throw a wineglass during an argument the previous year.
It missed the wall? No. It hit the wall. Glass broke.
He had watched her shove a floral display after a vendor error.
No person injured.
Then the bridal fitting happened.
Daniel was told Cecily tripped.
That lie kept the wedding alive.
Vanessa believed I knew enough to expose it.
May you like
She was right.
Just not in the way she imagined.
