Chapter 2
By the time I handed the microphone to Ruthie, more than 820,000 people were watching.
“Keep the camera on the ballroom,” I said. “Don’t follow me.”
Julian pushed toward me from the other end of the aisle. Reporters blocked his path, shouting questions over one another. He called my name twice. I kept walking.
The door to the side hall was still open. A handprint marked the wallpaper. A white rose had been crushed into the carpet, and the air smelled of perfume that wasn’t mine.
Near the spot where Sienna had stood in the video, a pearl lay beside the wall. It wasn’t the one she had worn. It was the other half of my mother’s pair.
When I opened the jewelry box that morning, both velvet slots were empty. In the rush, I assumed I had moved the pair and forgotten.
Now I understood. Sienna had taken both. The camera had shown only her right side.
Beside the pearl lay a silver cuff link engraved with the initials J.A. A trace of red lipstick marked the back.
I picked them up.
The matching cuff link was still on Julian’s wrist at the altar. He had lost this one in the hall.
The door opened behind me.
“Claire.” Sienna’s voice was tight. “Let me explain.”
I turned. She still wore the bridesmaid dress I had chosen, but her right ear was bare. The pearl was clenched in her fist, its post visible between her fingers.
“When did you take them?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“Then give me a date.”
Her eyes shifted toward the ballroom. Julian was still calling my name. She waited before realizing he wouldn’t reach us in time to answer for her.
“The menu tasting,” she said. “Three months ago.”
Three months. She had kept my mother’s pearls for an entire season and chosen my wedding day to wear them.
I held out my hand. Sienna placed the pearl in my palm. It was still warm from her skin. I slipped both earrings into my pocket and kept the cuff link in my hand.
As Whitford & Vow’s lead planner, Sienna had an estate key and knew when the bridal suite would be empty. I had given her that access.
Three months earlier, we had been tasting dishes for the reception. My original maid of honor had just left when Julian pushed the seating chart toward me. He said she didn’t understand livestreaming or sponsors.
“Sienna makes more sense,” he said. “She understands your work. She’s the only one who can manage you when you get busy.”
The next morning, Eleanor had already ordered new ceremony programs. Sienna’s name appeared in the place closest to mine.
When I questioned the rush, Eleanor said an Ashford wedding had no room for uncertainty.
I hadn’t objected. Sienna was my friend and my most trusted employee. Keeping her close had seemed harmless.
After that, Julian insisted she guide him through every rehearsal. I thought they were taking work off my plate.
“How many times in three months?” I asked.
Her lips parted, but nothing came out.
The quartet launched into the wedding processional inside the ballroom.
I walked past Sienna and pushed through the door.
Staff members were straightening the floral arch under Eleanor’s orders. Ashford security surrounded the camera operator. Ruthie held the control tablet against her chest and refused to surrender it.
Eleanor stood before the quartet with my microphone.
“What you witnessed was a livestream malfunction,” she told the guests. “Please return to your seats. The ceremony will resume where it was interrupted.”
Julian waited beneath the arch, his tie already fixed. He looked at me as though he expected me to walk back to him.
Eleanor raised one hand and ordered the quartet to begin again.