Chapter 6 - THE BRIDE WHO OPENED THE DOOR
Cassandra arrived at the hospital just after sunrise.
Her wedding gown had been replaced by a gray sweater and jeans.
Her makeup was gone.
She looked younger without the veil.
She stood outside Sophie’s room for several minutes before entering.
“I’m sorry.”
I did not answer.
She looked at the sleeping child.
“I should have called for help.”
“Yes.”
“I froze.”
“You looked at the carpet.”
Cassandra’s face crumpled.
“I know.”
“You were worried about the aisle runner while my daughter was bleeding.”
“I was trying to understand what happened.”
“No.”
“You were trying to decide whether the wedding could continue.”
She did not deny it.
Cassandra sat near the door.
“Paige told me about Preston.”
“When?”
“Last night.”
“Before or after he was arrested?”
“After the ambulance left.”
Preston had not yet been formally arrested.
Police allowed him to leave with instructions to remain available.
His attorneys immediately moved him to a private residence.
Paige confessed that their affair began four months earlier.
Preston promised to end the engagement after gaining control of the trust.
He planned to marry Paige later, after claiming Cassandra had become unstable.
Cassandra laughed bitterly.
“He was building the same kind of story around me.”
She opened her phone.
Preston had encouraged her to sign a prenuptial amendment one week before the wedding.
It gave him control of several properties owned by Cassandra’s family if the marriage ended because of her misconduct.
Paige helped create messages making Cassandra appear jealous and threatening.
The sisters had both been used.
Paige still helped him.
Cassandra believed she had hidden documents inside the bridal suite.
Hotel security entered the suite under police supervision.
They found a laptop beneath the mattress.
The device contained drafts of the false theft announcement.
Preston had written different versions.
One blamed a caterer.
One blamed a hotel employee.
The final version blamed Sophie.
A note beside her name read:
BEST OPTION.
CHILD CANNOT DEFEND HERSELF.
MOTHER ALREADY DISCREDITED.
My chest burned.
Cassandra handed Detective Miles her wedding access card.
“I want every room searched.”
The ballroom CCTV showed more than the phone planting.
It showed my mother giving Preston Sophie’s jacket before the reception.
She had told me she was helping hang it on a chair.
Instead, she carried it to a service corridor.
Preston tested whether his phone fit inside the pocket.
My father stood nearby.
The plan had been rehearsed.
Cassandra watched the video once.
Then she removed her wedding ring.
“I want an annulment.”
Before leaving, she looked at Sophie.
May you like
“I failed her last night.”
“I will not fail her by protecting him today.”
