Chapter 2 - EVERYONE PICKS A SIDE
“You planned this.”
Maya’s voice came out low.
Victoria blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me.”
Ethan stepped between them.
“Maya, slow down.”
“No, Ethan. Look at her.”
Victoria pressed one hand dramatically to her chest.
“You’re accusing me now?”
“You grabbed my purse without permission. You dumped it out in front of everyone. Then somehow you were the one person who knew exactly what to look for.”
“I didn’t know anything.”
“You looked inside my purse before you dumped it.”
Victoria’s eyes sharpened.
Only for a second.
But Maya saw it.
So did someone else.
Ethan’s younger cousin, Noah, frowned.
“I saw that too,” he said.
Victoria turned toward him.
“Saw what?”
“You looked inside the bag.”
“Noah,” his father warned.
“No. She did.”
Victoria gave a cold laugh.
“This is ridiculous.”
Ethan picked up the hotel key.
“Maya, I need you to answer me.”
“I already did.”
“Were you at the Harbor Grand?”
“No.”
“Last night?”
“No.”
“Any night this week?”
“No!”
Maya’s voice cracked.
The room went quiet.
Ethan looked wounded.
That hurt more than the accusation.
Maya stepped toward him.
“Yesterday I left work at six. I went straight to Caroline’s apartment. We finished the wedding place cards until almost midnight.”
Caroline, Maya’s maid of honor, nodded immediately.
“She was with me.”
Victoria rolled her eyes.
“Her best friend. How convenient.”
Caroline’s chair scraped back.
“You know what, Victoria—”
“Please,” Ethan’s father, Richard, said. “Everybody calm down.”
Victoria pointed at the key.
“You can calm down if you want. My son is getting married in forty-eight hours, and his fiancée is carrying around hotel keys she can’t explain.”
Maya’s hands shook.
“I can explain one thing.”
She looked directly at Victoria.
“You’ve hated me since the day Ethan proposed.”
“That is not true.”
“You called me temporary.”
“I said young relationships can be temporary.”
“You told Ethan he was making the biggest mistake of his life.”
“I was protecting my son.”
“From what?”
Victoria stood.
“From women who see this family and see money.”
There it was.
The insult Victoria had been dressing up in polite language for two years.
Maya felt Ethan stiffen beside her.
“Mom, stop.”
But Victoria wasn’t finished.
“She grew up with nothing. Suddenly she meets you, and now she’s getting married at the Langford Estate.”
Maya stared at her.
“My parents worked two jobs each.”
“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with that.”
“Yes, you did.”
Ethan slammed the hotel key onto the table.
“Enough!”
Everyone jumped.
He turned to Maya.
“I believe you.”
For the first time all night, Victoria’s face fell.
Then Ethan added, “But I need to know where this key came from.”
Maya swallowed.
“Then let’s find out.”
Victoria crossed her arms.
“How?”
Maya picked up the card.
“We go to the hotel.”
Victoria’s expression changed again.
May you like
This time, Maya saw something unmistakable.
Fear.
