The Bride’s First Mistake
Chapter 10 - The Bride’s First Mistake
Claire’s first mistake had not been agreeing to marry Daniel.
It had been believing Owen when he said Daniel would never love anyone deeply again.
“A widower like him doesn’t need love,” Owen had told her at a fundraiser. “He needs relief. Be easy. Be patient. Never compete with the dead woman.”
Claire had followed the instructions. She learned Emma’s favorite charities, avoided Emma’s favorite songs, and pretended not to notice when Daniel looked at Mia and saw someone else.
Somewhere along the way, the performance changed. Daniel’s gentleness became difficult to fake around. Mia’s suspicion became more painful than insult. Claire began to want the family she had been hired to imitate.
But wanting did not erase what she had done.
Now she stood before Daniel with two hundred witnesses and no useful lie left.
“I knew about the foundation plan,” she said. “Owen promised me twenty percent of Beacon’s new medical patents after the trust amendment.”
Evelyn seized her arm. “Stop talking.”
Claire pulled free. “You introduced us.”
“I introduced you to a suitable man.”
“You introduced me to a transaction.”
Evelyn’s face hardened. “The Whitmore accounts were collapsing. I protected this family.”
Mia whispered to Daniel, “Their family meetings must be terrible.”
Daniel almost laughed. The sound came out like a broken breath.
Claire looked at Mia. “I am sorry.”
Mia did not answer.
Claire continued. “I told Grant to keep you away from the ballroom. I thought I could make Daniel sign, return you, and explain everything later.”
“You thought being sorry later was the same as not doing it,” Mia said.
Claire’s eyes filled.
Daniel stepped forward. “What is North Harbor?”
“I don’t know everything.”
“Tell me what you do know.”
Claire looked toward Owen.
He spoke softly. “Be careful.”
Something in his tone made several guests move away from him.
Claire turned back to Daniel. “Six months ago, a clinic in Maine contacted Beacon Foundation. They had a patient with no confirmed identity. She had scars consistent with a helicopter crash and repeated the name Mia during periods of lucidity.”
Daniel could not feel his hands.
“The letter was sent to you,” Claire said. “Owen intercepted it.”
“Why?”
“Because if the patient is Emma, she can testify.”
The room seemed to contract around Daniel.
He looked at Owen, the man who had chosen Emma’s memorial stone.
“You knew she might be alive.”
Owen’s voice remained calm. “A confused clinic patient is not Emma.”
“Did you go there?”
Silence.
Claire answered. “Yes. He went in March.”
Daniel took one step toward Owen.
Owen backed away.
That was when everyone in the ballroom understood the same thing.
May you like
The wedding had ended.
The hunt had begun.
