Chapter 2
Nobody moved.
The engagement ring rolled across the polished ballroom floor, struck the leg of a chair, and stopped.
Ainsley stared at it.
Then at Galen.
Then at the dozen stunned people who had been pretending not to watch.
Her mother stood near the floral arch with one hand pressed against her mouth.
The wedding planner looked frozen.
Nolan was still on the floor, holding his jaw.
And Eira was behind Galen, clutching the torn ribbon of her dress with one tiny fist.
Ainsley’s face changed.
The fear disappeared.
Rage replaced it.
“You’re humiliating me.”
Galen didn’t raise his voice.
“You humiliated yourself.”
“This is our rehearsal.”
“No.”
Galen reached backward and took Eira’s hand.
“This was our rehearsal.”
He looked down at his daughter.
Her cheeks were wet.
Her little chest kept shaking.
“And you made a four-year-old terrified to stand beside her own father.”
Ainsley stepped closer.
“She was ruining everything.”
Galen’s eyes hardened.
“She is not an everything.”
Ainsley blinked.
“She is my daughter.”
Nolan struggled to his feet.
“Galen, calm down.”
Galen turned his head.
“One more step toward my child and you’ll leave here with security.”
Nolan stopped.
Ainsley laughed bitterly.
“You’re serious?”
“Completely.”
“You’re canceling a wedding that cost over two hundred thousand dollars because a child threw a tantrum?”
Eira flinched.
Galen felt her fingers tighten around his.
He looked back at Ainsley.
“She didn’t throw a tantrum.”
He lifted the broken locket.
“You ripped this off her neck.”
“It belonged to your dead wife!”
The room went silent again.
Galen’s jaw tightened.
Eira whispered.
“Mommy.”
Ainsley looked toward her.
That was when Galen saw something he had somehow ignored for months.
The coldness.
Not annoyance.
Not frustration.
Not jealousy.
Coldness.
Ainsley did not look at Eira like a difficult child.
She looked at her like an obstacle.
Galen felt sick.
How many times had Eira gone quiet when Ainsley entered a room?
How many dinners had his daughter suddenly stopped eating?
How many times had she asked to sleep at her grandmother’s house?
He had told himself she was adjusting.
He had told himself grief made children unpredictable.
He had told himself Ainsley needed time to become comfortable as a stepmother.
Now all those excuses sounded disgusting.
Galen crouched in front of Eira.
“Sweetheart.”
She wouldn’t look at him.
He touched her cheek.
“Look at Daddy.”
Slowly, she raised her eyes.
“Did Ainsley hurt you before today?”
Ainsley immediately spoke.
“Do not put ideas in her head.”
Galen stood.
“Be quiet.”
“Excuse me?”
“For once, be quiet.”
He crouched again.
Eira looked scared.
Not of the question.
Of answering it.
That was worse.
Galen swallowed.
“You will never get in trouble for telling me the truth.”
Eira stared at Ainsley.
Ainsley folded her arms.
Galen followed his daughter’s gaze.
Then he stood and pointed toward the ballroom doors.
“Get out.”
Ainsley’s eyes widened.
“This is my wedding venue.”
“It’s booked under my company.”
“You can’t throw me out.”
“Watch me.”
Galen pulled out his phone and called hotel security.
Ainsley stepped forward.
“Galen.”
He ignored her.
“Ballroom C. I need security here immediately.”
Nolan cursed.
“This is insane.”
Galen ended the call.
“No. What’s insane is that I almost married into this.”
Ainsley’s mother finally approached.
“Perhaps everyone should settle down.”
Galen looked at her.
“Your daughter cut a dress off a crying four-year-old.”
“She only cut the sash.”
“She ripped a dead mother’s necklace from her child’s throat.”
Ainsley’s mother went pale.
“I didn’t see that.”
“You saw enough.”
Ainsley pointed at Eira.
“She has manipulated you since the day we met!”
Eira recoiled.
Galen moved instantly, blocking Ainsley’s view of her.
“A four-year-old did not manipulate me.”
“She cries every time I correct her.”
“She’s four.”
“She deliberately brings up Celeste whenever I’m around.”
Galen stared at her.
“Celeste was her mother.”
“And she was your wife.”
The bitterness in Ainsley’s voice hit him.
Finally, the truth was coming out.
Ainsley’s eyes filled with furious tears.
“I am tired of living with a ghost.”
Galen said nothing.
“I walk into your house and her pictures are there.”
“Because she was family.”
“Her daughter wears her necklace.”
“Because it belonged to her mother.”
“You still take Eira to her grave.”
“Because Eira asks to visit.”
“And every year you celebrate her birthday!”
“For my daughter.”
Ainsley shook her head violently.
“No. For you.”
Galen stared at her.
She stepped closer.
“I was supposed to become your wife tomorrow. I was supposed to become the woman of that house. But there was never going to be room for me while you kept Celeste everywhere.”
Galen’s expression went still.
There it was.
The confession he hadn’t known he needed.
“You thought marrying me meant replacing her.”
Ainsley didn’t answer.
“You thought becoming Eira’s stepmother meant erasing her mother.”
“Stop twisting my words.”
“I don’t need to.”
He held up the broken locket.
“You made them perfectly clear.”
Security entered the ballroom.
Two men in dark suits.
The manager followed.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Galen nodded toward Ainsley and Nolan.
“They need to leave.”
Ainsley stared at him in disbelief.
“You’re actually doing this.”
“Yes.”
“Our guests arrive tomorrow.”
“There is no wedding tomorrow.”
“My family flew across the country!”
“Send them home.”
“My dress cost thirty thousand dollars!”
“Wear it somewhere else.”
Someone near the back gasped.
Nolan stepped toward Galen again.
Security blocked him.
“This is not finished,” Nolan said.
Galen gave him a cold look.
“It is for you.”
Nolan pointed a finger.
“You think because you have money you can treat people however you want?”
Galen almost laughed.
“You attacked me because I wouldn’t let your sister terrorize my daughter.”
“She was disciplining her.”
“Touch my daughter and repeat that sentence.”
Nolan stopped talking.
Security escorted him toward the door.
Ainsley refused to move.
Her eyes were locked on Galen.
“You will regret this.”
Galen looked down at Eira.
“No.”
Then back at Ainsley.
“I regret not doing it sooner.”
Ainsley’s face twisted.
“You think she’s innocent?”
Galen frowned.
Ainsley looked directly at Eira.
“Tell him.”
Eira suddenly went rigid.
Galen felt it through her hand.
Ainsley smiled.
It was small.
Ugly.
“Tell Daddy what happened to Celeste’s blue box.”
Galen looked at his daughter.
“What blue box?”
Eira’s lip trembled.
Ainsley continued.
“The one from the closet.”
“Stop talking to her.”
“Ask her, Galen.”
Security reached for Ainsley’s arm.
She jerked away.
“Ask your perfect little girl why she was hiding things from you.”
Galen’s stomach tightened.
“Eira?”
The child began crying again.
“I’m sorry.”
Galen crouched immediately.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“Yes, I do.”
She was struggling to breathe between sobs.
“I wasn’t supposed to tell.”
Galen’s blood went cold.
“Tell what?”
Ainsley suddenly looked nervous.
That changed everything.
Galen noticed it instantly.
Eira reached into the small pocket sewn into the side of her flower-girl dress.
Her fingers shook.
Then she pulled out a tiny brass key.
Galen stared at it.
“What is that?”
Eira whispered.
“Mommy’s.”
Ainsley stepped forward.
“Give me that.”
Galen rose so fast the chair behind him tipped over.
“Why?”
Ainsley froze.
“Why do you want this key?”
“I don’t.”
“You just demanded it.”
“She stole it.”
“From where?”
Ainsley said nothing.
Eira hid behind Galen’s leg.
“She told me to throw it away.”
Galen’s heartbeat changed.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
He looked down at her.
“Where did you find it?”
“In Mommy’s room.”
There had not been a “Mommy’s room” for two years.
Celeste’s belongings were stored in a locked upstairs study at Galen’s house.
A room he rarely entered.
A room Ainsley had repeatedly asked him to clear out before the wedding.
Galen stared at Ainsley.
“You went into Celeste’s study.”
Ainsley’s silence answered him.
“What were you doing in there?”
“Cleaning.”
“The room was locked.”
“You gave me access to the house.”
“Not to that room.”
Ainsley’s eyes flicked toward the key.
Galen saw it.
He closed his fist around the brass key.
“What does this open?”
Ainsley’s voice dropped.
“Nothing important.”
Eira tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy.”
He looked down.
“Ainsley found a blue box.”
Ainsley snapped.
“Eira, stop.”
Galen stepped between them again.
“What box?”
Eira wiped her nose.
“She got mad because it wouldn’t open.”
Galen slowly looked at Ainsley.
“You found a locked box in my dead wife’s belongings.”
Ainsley said nothing.
“And you tried to make my daughter get rid of the key.”
Still nothing.
The ballroom suddenly felt too small.
Galen picked up Eira.
She wrapped both arms around his neck.
He looked at security.
“Get her out.”
Ainsley’s face lost its color.
“Galen, you are making this bigger than it is.”
He started walking toward the opposite doors.
Ainsley shouted after him.
“If you open that box, don’t blame me for what you find!”
Galen stopped.
Slowly, he turned.
Ainsley realized too late what she had said.
Galen’s eyes narrowed.
“You know what’s inside.”
“No.”
“You just said—”
“I meant—”
“You know.”
Ainsley’s mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Galen held Eira tighter.
For the first time that evening, his anger disappeared.
Something colder replaced it.
Fear.
Because Celeste had died four years earlier in what police called a highway accident.
She had left behind photographs.
Letters.
Jewelry.
A daughter who barely remembered her voice.
But Galen had never heard of a blue box.
And Ainsley had never met Celeste.
At least that was what she had always claimed.
Galen looked at the woman he had almost married.
“How do you know there’s something inside?”
Ainsley stared at him.
May you like
Then she whispered four words.
“Ask your dead wife.”
