Chapter 1 - THE STAIN
Black dye hit my wedding dress forty minutes before the ceremony.
My sister Vanessa tipped the bottle with both hands. The liquid rushed over the ivory lace, swallowed the tiny pearl buttons, and dripped onto my shoes.
“There,” she said, smiling. “Now you look perfect.”
I couldn't speak. I'd paid $3,200 for that dress with money I earned staying late at the dental office. My grandmother Rose had helped me choose it before she died. Now the lace looked like it had been pulled through a chimney.
My mother stood by the door with her phone held sideways.
She was recording.
“Evelyn, don't be dramatic,” she said. “It's just fabric.”
“Then why is she smiling?” I asked.
Vanessa shook out the last drops. “Because you're finally not the center of attention.”
I was twenty-nine. Vanessa was thirty-three. She had spent our childhood breaking things I loved, then watching Mom tell me to forgive her. I'd forgiven stolen birthday money, ruined college applications, even the week she convinced our relatives I hadn't visited Dad in the hospital. But this was my wedding morning. I had forty minutes until I married Ethan Mercer.
Rachel, my maid of honor, walked in carrying mascara. The tube dropped from her hand.
“Oh, hell no.”
“Rachel, get my phone,” I said.
My voice sounded calmer than I felt.
The night before, Ethan had shown me a message Vanessa sent him: You don't have to marry her. We belong together. A minute later she'd begged him not to tell me. There had been a third message, one she'd tried to delete. Ethan said we needed to look at it carefully before accusing anyone.
I opened the screenshots.
Vanessa's smile slipped.
Mom lowered her phone. “What is that?”
“Something your favorite daughter sent my fiancé.”
“Private messages,” Vanessa snapped. “You had no right.”
Rachel gave a short laugh. “You poured dye on her wedding dress, and you're worried about privacy?”
I hit Ethan's name. He answered on the first ring.
“Ev? Are you okay?”
“My dress is destroyed. Bring what Vanessa accidentally sent you. All of it.”
“I'll be there,” he said.
May you like
Vanessa lunged for my phone. I stepped away, and she whispered something I had never heard from her before.
“Please don't show Mom the last message.”
