Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN AT THE ALTARThe first person to reach me was my older brother Daniel.
“What’s going on?”
I held up my hand.
“Stay with Emily.”
Daniel looked at my daughter and immediately understood this was serious.
He guided her toward our mother.
Rebecca remained near the altar.
Her father, Richard, stepped forward.
“Andrew, this is not the place for accusations.”
I looked at him.
“Then tell me what she wrote.”
Richard’s face changed.
That was enough.
He knew.
Maybe not everything.
But enough.
The priest cleared his throat nervously.
“Perhaps we should pause the ceremony.”
“Perhaps?” I repeated.
The man in the gray suit still stood near the chapel doors.
I pointed at him.
“Who is that?”
Nobody answered.
Rebecca did.
“My security consultant.”
“Since when do we need security at a wedding?”
She said nothing.
I walked toward her.
“You told me you hated unnecessary drama.”
“I do.”
“You told me Emily was like a daughter to you.”
“She is.”
“Then why did you write that she was being sent away after the wedding?”
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“I didn't mean it that way.”
I almost laughed.
A sentence like that might work after an argument.
Not when your seven-year-old daughter is terrified she is being abandoned.
“You wrote the words.”
“Yes.”
The chapel went silent.
My mother covered her mouth.
Daniel muttered a curse.
I stared at Rebecca.
“Why?”
She looked at me.
“Because you weren't going to listen.”
“To what?”
“You wouldn't understand.”
“Try me.”
She walked closer.
“You think this wedding is just a wedding.”
I said nothing.
“It isn't.”
She glanced at her father.
He shook his head.
That tiny movement told me something terrifying.
They had discussed this.
Maybe many times.
I looked around at the guests.
Suddenly every smiling face felt different.
Who else knew?
The photographer?
The wedding planner?
The driver?
The nanny?
I turned toward the priest.
“Father, have you ever met my daughter before today?”
“Yes.”
“Has Rebecca ever asked you to prepare anything involving her?”
His hesitation was barely noticeable.
But I saw it.
“No.”
Rebecca interrupted.
“Andrew, please.”
I turned toward her.
“Where were you planning to send her?”
She went pale.
“I wasn't planning to send her anywhere.”
“Then what does ‘somewhere better suited for children like you’ mean?”
She didn't answer.
Emily suddenly screamed.
I turned.
The nanny had approached her.
She held out a hand.
“Come with me, sweetheart.”
Emily backed away.
“No!”
Her voice echoed through the chapel.
Everyone froze.
The nanny looked horrified.
“I only meant to take her to the bridal room.”
Emily shook her head violently.
“She said I can't stay with Daddy!”
The nanny's eyes filled with tears.
“I never said that.”
“Who did?”
Emily pointed at Rebecca.
The room erupted.
Rebecca stepped forward.
“Emily is confused.”
My daughter screamed, “You told me!”
I put an arm around her.
Rebecca's father moved closer.
“Andrew, children misunderstand conversations all the time.”
I turned toward him.
“Then why was there a written note?”
He stopped.
That was when Daniel noticed something.
“Andrew.”
He pointed toward the paper in my hand.
“There’s something on the back.”
I turned the note over.
At first, I saw nothing.
Then Daniel took out his phone flashlight.
Faint pencil marks appeared under the light.
A list.
Three names.
One date.
One address.
And beside Emily’s name, one word:
TRANSFERRED.
My heart hammered.
“What is this?”
Rebecca rushed toward me.
“Give it to me.”
I stepped back.
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“You don't know what that means.”
“Then tell me.”
“I can't.”
“Why?”
She looked toward the gray-suited man.
He gave her a tiny signal.
Run.
That was what it looked like.
For half a second.
Then Rebecca whispered:
“Because if you read the rest, my father will kill me.”
The chapel doors suddenly slammed.
Everyone turned.
The gray-suited man had locked them.
And now he was walking toward us.
Slowly.
Without a hint of panic.
Rebecca stepped in front of me.
May you like
“Andrew,” she whispered.
“Whatever happens next, do not let Emily leave this building.”
