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Then I sat up.
My hands were shaking, but my mind was ice.
I pulled the vial from my bouquet, sealed it, and slipped it into the emergency pouch sewn beneath my dress. Then I retrieved my phone.
A message from my lawyer glowed on the screen.
We got everything. Police on standby. Board notified. Your call.
I looked at the forged signatures. The papers hidden in my suitcase. The wedding ring on my finger.
Daniel thought he had married a fortune.
He had married a trap.
I typed back with one thumb.
Wait until breakfast. I want witnesses.
Morning arrived golden and cruel.
I walked into the dining hall still wearing my wedding dress, my veil gone, my hair pinned back, my face pale enough to please them. Daniel stood at the head of the table beside his mother, surrounded by relatives, investors, and two members of the Hale Medical board.
He smiled too brightly.
“My wife had a difficult night,” he announced. “But we have wonderful news.”
His mother lifted her glass. “A new family. A new future. A new chapter for Hale Medical.”
I sat slowly.
Daniel placed a folder in front of me. “Clara, darling, we should tell them together.”
I looked at the folder.
Then at him.
“Tell them what?”
A flicker crossed his face.
“That you’ve transferred your shares to me. For the stability of the company.”
Gasps and pleased murmurs came from his side of the family.
My board members did not smile.
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