Chapter 2: The Secret Beside Her Name
Vanessa gripped my place card until it bent.
“By the kitchen,” she finally whispered.
Daniel lowered the microphone.
“Why?”
“It was my decision,” she snapped.
“Clara doesn’t belong at the family table.”
My stomach tightened, but Grandma Margaret stepped closer.
“Tell him the real reason, Vanessa.”
Vanessa’s eyes flashed toward her.
“Stay out of this.”
Daniel looked at me.
“Clara, did you two argue?”
“No.
She confirmed my seat this morning.”
“That’s not all she confirmed,” Aunt Patricia said.
She reached into her handbag and pulled out a folded copy of the seating plan.
Vanessa lunged for it, but Uncle Robert moved between them.
“Give me that,” Vanessa demanded.
Aunt Patricia handed the paper to Daniel.
Beside my name, someone had written: REMOVE AFTER FAMILY PHOTOS.
DO NOT TELL DANIEL.
The room went silent.
Daniel stared at the note.
“You wanted Clara in the photographs, then hidden by the kitchen?”
Vanessa shook her head quickly.
“That isn’t what it looks like.”
“Then explain it.”
Before she could answer, Grandma Margaret touched my arm.
Her hand was trembling.
“There’s something Daniel doesn’t know,” she said.
“Something Vanessa learned after your father was gone.”
Vanessa’s face changed completely.
“Grandma,” she warned, “if you tell him tonight, you’ll destroy everything.”
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What secret made Vanessa turn against Clara—and why was it dangerous enough to threaten her marriage?
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