Part 1
Ten minutes before I was supposed to get married, my three-year-old grandson grabbed my hand so tightly that I stopped in the hotel corridor.
“Grandpa.”
I looked down at Noah. His gray suit sat crooked on his little body, one shoelace was loose, and his bow tie was almost sideways.
“What is it, buddy?”
He glanced toward the ballroom, then back at me. His expression had turned unusually serious.
I knelt and straightened his jacket. “You’re supposed to be helping Grandpa get married today.”
Noah didn’t smile. Instead, he leaned close to my ear.
“Grandpa, she hurt Mommy while you were gone.”
My hands stopped moving.
“Who hurt Mommy?”
He raised one finger and pointed down the corridor. At Rebecca. My future wife.
Rebecca stood near the bridal suite with two bridesmaids, laughing while the photographer adjusted her veil. She looked elegant, composed, completely normal.
For several seconds, all I could hear was my own heartbeat.
My daughter, Emily, had told me that morning that she had a migraine and might arrive late. She had barely spoken to Rebecca during the previous month, but I’d assumed it was wedding tension. Rebecca had told me Emily was struggling to accept that I was remarrying five years after her mother’s death.
I lowered my voice. “What happened?”
Noah glanced behind him, then reached into his suit pocket. “Mommy said hide this.”
He pulled out a black USB flash drive. I stared at it. Then he whispered, “She said if Mommy sleeps too long, give it to you.”
A chill ran through me.
“Where is Mommy now?”
“At Aunt Sarah’s house.”
That made no sense. Emily was supposed to be resting at home.
Before I could question him further, Rebecca noticed us. Her smile disappeared for half a second. Then it returned.
“Daniel,” she called sweetly. “They’re ready for us.”
I slipped the USB into my jacket. “I’ll be there.”
Rebecca walked toward us and looked down at Noah. “What are you two whispering about?”
Noah immediately stepped behind me. That scared me more than anything he had said.
“Grandfather-grandson secrets,” I replied.
Rebecca studied my face. For the first time in two years, I noticed how carefully she watched people.
I stood. “Give me five minutes.”
Her expression tightened. “Daniel, there are ninety guests waiting.”
“They can wait.”
I entered the groom’s preparation room, locked the door, and opened my laptop. The USB contained one folder. REBECCA. Inside were screenshots, bank statements, audio files, and a video recorded inside my kitchen.
I opened the newest file. Emily appeared on-screen, filming secretly from behind the kitchen doorway.
Rebecca’s voice came from the next room. “You should have stayed out of this.”
Emily answered, “My father deserves to know what you’re doing.”
Then came the sound of a slap. A crash. Emily cried out.
And Rebecca said something that turned my stomach cold.
“By the time Daniel understands, his money will already be mine.”
Someone knocked hard.
“Daniel?”
Rebecca.
And suddenly I understood why my daughter had been trying to stop the wedding.
