Chapter 1: The Wedding That Became a Crime Scene
No one moved.
The silence inside the chapel became almost unbearable.
Emily stared at Nathan as though she had never seen him before.
The man she had loved for four years...
The man she was supposed to marry...
Could no longer even look her in the eyes.
Charles Whitman slowly walked toward the altar, the old hospital records shaking in his hands.
"I wish I were wrong," he whispered.
"But every record matches."
Margaret collapsed onto the front pew.
Her body trembled violently.
"I searched for you," she sobbed.
"For twenty years... every police station... every orphanage... every city."
Nathan's face had gone completely pale.
"I... was adopted."
Every head turned toward him.
"My parents told me they found me through a private adoption agency."
Charles immediately looked up.
"What agency?"
Nathan hesitated.
"...Bright Horizons Children's Services."
Charles froze.
His expression darkened.
"That agency was shut down nineteen years ago."
"Why?"
"For trafficking newborns."
The chapel erupted.
Guests gasped.
Someone dropped a champagne glass.
Emily slowly removed her engagement ring.
Her fingers shook so violently she almost dropped it.
She placed it gently into Nathan's open palm.
"I don't blame you."
Her voice barely carried.
"But I can't stand here anymore."
Without another word...
She lifted her wedding dress...
And walked alone down the aisle that moments earlier had promised her forever.
The chapel doors closed behind her.
May you like
The wedding was over.
But the nightmare had only begun.
