“MY FATHER SHOVED A 68-YEAR-OLD WOMAN TO THE GROUND AT MY WEDDING—THEN SHE REVEALED THE SECRET HE'D BURIED FOR 30 YEARS!”

The ambulance carried Margaret away while the wedding guests watched from under white paper lanterns. Ethan tried to climb in, but a paramedic asked him to follow in a car. Margaret had pain in her hip and trouble catching her breath.

"I'm coming, Mom," he said.

Claire caught his hand. "I'll drive."

Richard blocked their path. "The ceremony isn't finished. You can't humiliate my family over a misunderstanding."

Ethan stared at him. "You put my mother on the ground."

"She tripped. Everyone saw it."

"Everyone saw something. That's not the same thing."

Richard smiled for the guests. "You're emotional. We can discuss this privately."

"We're done discussing anything privately."

Claire pulled Ethan toward the parking lot. She didn't defend her father again, but she wouldn't meet Ethan's eyes.

In the car, she drove too fast, braking hard at every light.

"Did you know he was going to do that?" Ethan asked.

"Of course not."

"Then why did you look afraid before Mom fell?"

Claire gripped the wheel. "My father has been acting strange about your mother. That's all."

"Why?"

"I don't know."

A phone buzzed in her lap. The screen flashed a message from Richard: CHECK HER BAG BEFORE ETHAN DOES.

Ethan saw it.

Claire turned the phone face down.

"Pull over," he said.

"Ethan—"

"Pull over."

She stopped beside a closed gas station. The engine ticked in the silence.

"Tell me what's in that bag," he said.

Tears gathered in Claire's eyes. "I thought if we got married, I could keep both of you safe."

"From what?"

"From what my father did twenty-six years ago."

Ethan felt something colder than anger. "What did he do?"

Before she answered, an unknown number called his phone.

A woman whispered, "I worked your wedding. Your mother gave me something before the ceremony. I have a video too. But your father-in-law has men following me."