Chapter 1 - The Black Silk Warning
The air in the bridal suite had gone completely dead. My mother’s hands remained frozen on the delicate champagne silk straps of the dress I had paid three thousand dollars to have tailored. Lisa’s smug expression had dissolved into a mask of pure, unadulterated caution. And Aaron, the man who had spent the last nine years of his life sleeping beside me, suddenly looked like he was standing on the edge of a very high, very fragile cliff.
“Emma,” Aaron said, his voice dropping into that low, soothing register he used when he was trying to negotiate a tense contract. “What do you mean, a different speech?”
I didn’t answer him. I didn’t need to. I simply turned away from the mirror, walked over to my garment bag, and unzipped the secondary compartment. I hadn't planned on wearing my backup dress. It was a sleek, floor-length black silk gown—the kind of dress you wore to a funeral, or a corporate execution.
“You’re wearing black?” my mother gasped, finally finding her voice as the dark fabric spilled over my arm. “To my vow-renewal? Emma, that is entirely inappropriate. It’s bad luck.”
“I think the luck in this family ran out a long time ago, Mom,” I said, stepping behind the velvet changing screen.
Aaron followed me, stopping just on the other side of the screen. I could see his shadow through the fabric. He was breathing heavily. “Emma. Don’t play games. Your dad is announcing the new CEO of the foundation tonight. I’ve worked my entire life for this. We’ve worked for this.”
We.
He had the audacity to say we.
Three months ago, I had found a hidden folder on our shared home server. Aaron was meticulous about his corporate security, but he was sloppy about his personal Wi-Fi syncing. I found hotel receipts. Flight confirmations. And a gallery of photographs that made my blood run ice cold. Pictures of my husband and my younger sister, tangled in the high-thread-count sheets of a boutique hotel in Aspen while I was back home managing the family estate.
May you like
“You’ll get exactly what you’ve worked for, Aaron,” I said softly, stepping out from behind the screen. The black silk clung to me like armor. I looked at Lisa, who was still wearing my champagne dress. She suddenly looked cheap in it. “Enjoy the dress, Lisa. It’s the last expensive thing you’ll ever wear in this family.”
I walked out of the suite without looking back, leaving the three of them suffocating in the silence of their own guilt. The trap had been set for three months. I was just waiting for the right audience to snap it shut.
