CHAPTER 1 — THE TRUTH BEHIND THE PERFECT WEDDING
The wedding that was supposed to become the beginning of a new family ended before the first dance ever happened.
Daniel stood in the middle of the ballroom, still holding his daughter Emma in his arms.
Her small body was wrapped tightly inside his white dinner jacket.
She wasn’t crying anymore.
That frightened him more than anything.
Emma had always been a bright, talkative little girl. She laughed loudly, asked endless questions, and believed everyone had kindness somewhere inside them.
But now she was silent.
Her tiny fingers were gripping his jacket like she was afraid he would disappear again.
Daniel looked at Victoria.
The woman wearing the wedding dress.
The woman who had smiled for hundreds of cameras.
The woman who had promised him she would love his daughter as her own.
“Tell me why,” Daniel said quietly.
The entire room held its breath.
Victoria crossed her arms.
For a moment, she looked embarrassed.
Not guilty.
Embarrassed.
“Daniel, you’re making this into something it isn’t,” she replied. “She was outside for a few minutes. That’s all.”
A few guests exchanged uncomfortable looks.
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“A few minutes?”
His voice became colder.
“She was standing on a freezing balcony. Alone. Crying for me.”
Victoria rolled her eyes slightly.
“She was interrupting the wedding. She knew everyone was here for us.”
Those words destroyed the last bit of doubt in Daniel’s heart.
Because he finally understood.
Victoria didn’t make a mistake.
She made a choice.
And her choice was his daughter.
Daniel slowly looked down at the wedding vows in his hand.
The promises.
The future.
The life he thought they were building.
Then he tore the papers in half.
The sound echoed through the silent ballroom.
“I was going to marry a woman I thought could love my daughter,” Daniel said.
He looked directly at Victoria.
“But I was wrong.”
Victoria’s perfect expression cracked.
“You can’t do this,” she whispered.
Daniel held Emma closer.
“I already did.”
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The wedding ended that night.
But the secrets behind Victoria’s cruelty had only begun to come out.
