Chapter 3 - The Bride’s Secret
No one moved.
Celeste’s white gown shimmered beneath the red emergency lights.
The diamond ring trembled between her fingers.
Nora stared at the dark red stains along its band.
“Whose blood is that?”
Celeste’s lips parted, but Grant answered first.
“Give me the ring.”
Celeste closed her fist around it.
“No.”
Grant took a step toward her.
“You don’t understand what you’re holding.”
“I understand exactly what it is.”
Celeste’s gaze moved to Nora.
“The diamond isn’t real.”
Nora frowned.
The ring was supposed to be a century-old Cole family heirloom worth nearly two million dollars.
Celeste pressed a hidden clasp beneath the stone.
The diamond lifted.
Inside the hollow setting was a tiny metal capsule.
“A storage device,” Maya whispered.
Celeste nodded.
“Ethan switched the real diamond six weeks ago.”
Nora’s anger returned.
“Why?”
“Because Vivian kept her most dangerous records inside the ring. She wore it everywhere because she trusted jewelry more than computers.”
Grant’s composure cracked.
“Celeste, hand it over.”
She ignored him.
“The blood belongs to Julian.”
Nora looked toward the ballroom.
Julian Cole, Celeste’s new husband and Ethan’s older brother, had vanished during the blackout.
“What happened to him?”
Celeste’s eyes filled, but she did not cry.
“He confronted his mother in the bridal suite. Grant tried to stop him.”
Maya covered her mouth.
“Is he alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Grant lunged.
Celeste stepped back, but the train of her gown caught beneath her heel.
He grabbed her wrist.
Before Nora could react, Maya slammed a silver serving tray into Grant’s arm.
The ring fell.
It struck the carpet and rolled beneath the curtain.
Grant shoved Maya aside.
Nora moved without thinking.
She dropped to one knee, grabbed the ring, and closed her fingers around it.
Grant froze.
For the first time, he looked uncertain.
“Mrs. Cole,” he said, “you are pregnant. Do not make this dangerous.”
Nora slowly stood.
“You already made it dangerous.”
She looked at Celeste.
“Where is Julian?”
“In the bridal suite.”
Nora turned toward the service hallway.
Grant blocked her path.
Then another voice came from behind him.
“Move away from my wife.”
Ethan stood at the end of the corridor.
His tuxedo jacket was torn.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
In one hand, he held the black flash drive.
In the other, he held Grant’s missing gun.
Nora’s expression hardened.
“You don’t get to call me your wife after what you did.”
Ethan’s face tightened, but he kept the weapon pointed at Grant.
“You’re right.”
Grant raised both hands.
“You have no idea how to use that.”
“No,” Ethan said. “But you know I’m desperate enough to try.”
Nora stepped away from Grant.
Ethan looked at the ring in her hand.
“You found the capsule.”
“What’s inside it?”
“Proof of seventeen years of crimes.”
Celeste whispered, “Including what happened to Nora’s father?”
Nora stopped breathing.
Her father had died in a private plane crash four years earlier.
The official investigation blamed mechanical failure.
Ethan’s silence answered before his mouth did.
Nora stared at him.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“How long?”
“Six weeks.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I needed evidence.”
“You needed courage.”
Ethan flinched.
Nora walked closer.
“Did your mother kill my father?”
Ethan looked at Grant.
“Ask him.”
Grant smiled faintly.
“Samuel Hale was a reckless pilot.”
“He wasn’t flying,” Nora said.
Grant’s smile vanished.
Ethan raised the gun.
“Where is Julian?”
Grant said nothing.
Then a phone began ringing inside his jacket.
He slowly removed it.
The screen displayed a live video call.
Julian appeared on it.
He was tied to a chair.
Behind him stood Vivian Cole.
She held a knife against her oldest son’s throat.
May you like
“Bring me the ring,” Vivian said, “or Celeste becomes a widow before her wedding cake is cut.”
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