Chapter 1: The Woman in Red
I noticed the red dress before I recognized the woman wearing it.
She was standing at the edge of our reception garden, completely still, while everyone else was laughing, drinking champagne, and waiting for my fiancé, Evan, and me to cut the cake.
The dress alone would have been enough to draw attention at a wedding, but when I saw her face, my stomach dropped.
It was Vanessa.
Evan's ex-fiancée.
I had never met her, but I knew exactly who she was.
Evan had shown me one photograph years ago and told me their relationship had ended badly.
According to him, Vanessa had become possessive, accused him of things he hadn't done, and refused to accept the breakup.
He hadn't spoken to her in almost four years.
At least, that was what I believed.
"What is she doing here?" I whispered.
Evan followed my gaze, and the color drained from his face.
For one second, he looked genuinely terrified.
Then his expression hardened.
"Ignore her."
"Did you invite her?"
"Of course not."
He grabbed the arm of one of his groomsmen and said something quietly.
The man immediately started walking toward Vanessa, but she stepped around him and came straight toward us.
People were beginning to stare.
"Evan," she called.
He didn't answer.
"Vanessa, you need to leave," I said before she could get any closer.
She barely looked at me.
Her eyes stayed fixed on Evan.
"You didn't tell her."
Evan's jaw tightened.
"Get out."
That was when my anger took over.
I had spent a year planning this wedding, and I wasn't about to let my fiancé's supposedly unstable ex turn it into a spectacle.
I stepped between them.
"I don't know what happened between the two of you, but this is my wedding.
You need to leave.
Now."
Vanessa finally looked directly at me.
Up close, she didn't look angry.
She looked scared.
"I'm not here to ruin your wedding," she said.
"Showing up in a red dress and confronting the groom is a strange way of proving that."
"I wore red because I needed you to notice me."
Evan suddenly moved toward us.
"Security is coming."
Vanessa's eyes widened.
She reached for both of my arms.
"Please.
Just give me thirty seconds."
I pulled away.
"Don't touch me."
Then she caught my hand and leaned so close that only I could hear her.
"Don't marry him until you know this."
My heart started pounding.
Before I could ask what she meant, Evan grabbed her wrist and pulled her hand away from mine.
"That's enough."
I had never heard him use that voice before.
Vanessa stared at him.
"You told her I was crazy, didn't you?"
Evan said nothing.
That silence bothered me more than anything she had said.
Two members of the venue staff were already approaching, and Evan told them to escort her out.
Vanessa didn't fight them.
She simply opened her purse, pulled out a small envelope, and pressed it into my hand.
Evan saw it.
And for the first time since she arrived, he completely lost control.
"Give me that."
He reached for the envelope, but I stepped back.
"What is it?"
"Nothing."
Vanessa gave a bitter laugh.
"If it were nothing, he wouldn't be trying so hard to take it from you."
Before Evan could grab it from me, I ripped the envelope open and gasped.
---
What was inside that envelope — and why did Evan's face go white the moment he saw it in my hands?
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