Chapter 1 — The Woman in the Photograph
Olivia’s fingers tightened around Sophie’s phone.
In the second photograph, Daniel stood beside the wedding cake with the tiny glass bottle in his hand.
Next to him was Olivia’s maid of honor.
Rachel Bennett.
Her best friend since they were sixteen.
Rachel had held Olivia’s hand when her father died. She had helped choose the wedding dress. She had spent the previous night beside Olivia, promising that Daniel was the man who would finally give her the family she deserved.
Now Rachel stood near the bridesmaids’ table, pale and motionless.
Olivia slowly raised her eyes.
“Rachel?”
Every face in the ballroom turned toward her.
Rachel’s lips parted, but no words came.
Daniel struggled beneath the two off-duty officers restraining him.
“That picture proves nothing!” he shouted. “Rachel walked in at the wrong moment!”
Sophie stepped between Olivia and Daniel.
“I took several photographs.”
Daniel stopped struggling.
For the first time, genuine fear entered his eyes.
Sophie opened another image.
Rachel was no longer simply standing beside him.
She was holding the storage room door open while Daniel poured the liquid.
The crowd erupted in furious whispers.
Olivia stared at Rachel as though she were looking at a stranger wearing her friend’s face.
“You helped him.”
“No.” Rachel shook her head quickly. “Liv, please. You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
Rachel looked toward Daniel.
That single glance betrayed her more completely than the photograph.
Olivia removed her wedding ring.
She did not throw it.
She placed it carefully on the cake table beside the poisoned frosting.
“You both had ten years of my trust,” she said quietly. “You have ten seconds to tell me why you tried to drug me.”
Daniel laughed bitterly from the floor.
“Drug you?”
Dr. Harper turned sharply.
The doctor had been examining the testing strip again.
His expression had changed.
“This concentration wouldn’t merely render her unconscious,” he said.
The ballroom became silent.
Olivia’s voice barely rose above a whisper.
“What would it do?”
Dr. Harper looked directly at her.
“Combined with the medication you take for your heart condition, it could have stopped your breathing.”
Rachel began to cry.
Daniel closed his eyes.
And Olivia finally understood.
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This had never been about ruining her wedding.
Someone had planned to make her a widow before she ever became a wife.
