Chapter 2: The Moment He Finally Understood What She Carried
They carried Audrey out on a stretcher while Seraphina's wedding cake still sat uncut on the table.
The ballroom had gone silent.
Three hundred guests stood frozen as officers moved through the room in pairs.
Eleanor was the first Sterling to speak.
"This is a private event." Her voice was ice.
"You have no right—"
"Ma'am, step back."
"Do you know who we are?"
"Yes." The officer didn't blink.
"That's why we're here."
Julian pushed through the crowd toward the stretcher.
When he saw Audrey's face, something shifted in his expression.
Not guilt.
Not yet.
Something closer to calculation.
"Audrey." He reached for her hand.
"I'm so sorry.
I was just about to—"
She turned her head away.
That was all.
He grabbed the paramedic's arm.
"Where are you taking her?"
"Sir, please step aside."
"She's my wife."
"Sir."
Seraphina appeared at Julian's shoulder, still in her wedding gown.
Her voice dropped to a hiss only he could hear.
"What did she do?
Julian.
What did she do?"
He didn't answer.
Because in that moment, he finally understood.
The briefcase.
The late-night calls.
The questions she had never quite finished asking.
His face went pale in a way that had nothing to do with the baby.
Audrey heard Seraphina say one more thing as the stretcher reached the door.
"She was never one of us."
Audrey closed her eyes.
*No,* she thought.
May you like
*I wasn't.*
*I was the one building the case.*
Related Stories
