Chapter 2 - Eight Missing Minutes
Claire stared at Vanessa while the security manager kept talking.
“The system shows a manual interruption,” he said. “Someone logged into the control panel at 3:42 p.m.”
“Who?” Claire asked.
“We’re checking.”
Vanessa folded her arms. “Are we done with the drama?”
Claire slowly lowered the phone.
Her best friend, Mia, stepped between them. “Drama? You just destroyed her dress.”
Vanessa rolled her eyes. “It’s juice. She has twenty people here with hair dryers and stain remover.”
Claire watched her closely.
Vanessa was too calm.
A woman who had made a stupid mistake would be embarrassed. A woman who had lost her temper would still be angry. Vanessa looked like someone who believed she had completed a job.
“Why eight minutes?” Claire asked.
Vanessa blinked. “What?”
“Why did the camera stop eight minutes before you poured this on me?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The door opened.
Ethan Cole walked in wearing a black tuxedo, his tie still loose around his collar.
He froze.
“Claire?”
His eyes moved from her soaked dress to Vanessa’s empty pitcher.
“What happened?”
Mia answered before Claire could. “Your sister poured a drink all over her.”
Ethan looked at Vanessa. “Tell me that’s not true.”
Vanessa sighed. “I tripped.”
“You crossed the room,” Mia snapped.
“Mia,” Claire said softly.
She did not want shouting. Not yet.
Ethan stepped toward Claire, shock giving way to anger. “I’m so sorry.”
Then he turned to Vanessa. “Get out.”
Vanessa’s eyes narrowed. “Ethan—”
“Get out of the room.”
She stared at him for a long moment, then grabbed her clutch from a chair.
At the door, she stopped beside Claire.
“You should think very carefully before you turn today into a police report,” she whispered.
Claire looked directly at her. “Why?”
Vanessa smiled without warmth.
“Because there are things in this family you don’t understand.”
She left.
Ethan shut the door behind her.
Claire expected him to ask what Vanessa meant.
Instead, Ethan looked away.
That was the second moment everything changed.
“Ethan,” Claire said. “What things?”
He rubbed a hand across his face.
“Nothing.”
“You hesitated.”
“I’m trying to save our wedding.”
“No. You’re trying to avoid answering me.”
His phone vibrated.
He checked the screen.
May you like
Claire saw only three words before he turned it facedown.
DELETE THE BACKUP.
