Chapter 12 - THE SHOT IN THE CHAPEL
Victoria stumbled.
The gun fired.
The sound exploded through the chapel.
Vanessa fell against the altar.
Daniel caught her before she hit the floor.
For one terrifying second, I thought she had been shot.
Then I saw the bullet hole in her veil.
The bullet had missed her by inches.
Victoria ran toward the side door.
Rosa kicked the weapon away.
Detective Reynolds entered with two officers.
They forced Victoria to the stone floor and placed her in handcuffs.
Her face remained strangely calm.
“This changes nothing,” she said.
“The Bennett family was built on theft.”
Detective Reynolds lifted her.
“Then you can explain that to a jury.”
Vanessa clung to Daniel.
He helped her stand.
She touched the torn veil.
“I saved you.”
Daniel looked at her.
“You saved yourself.”
Her face collapsed.
“Daniel, please.”
“Do not ask me to confuse one brave decision with everything you did before it.”
“I can change.”
“Maybe you can.”
“But you will not change beside me.”
He released her.
An officer escorted Vanessa outside.
She looked back repeatedly.
Daniel never did.
Rosa handed Jonathan’s letter to Detective Reynolds.
“I’m sorry I lied,” she said to me.
Victoria had contacted Rosa two months earlier.
She threatened to expose an old immigration error involving Rosa’s sister and used the threat to force Rosa to provide schedules, access codes, and private details.
Rosa had agreed because she was terrified.
Then she began recording every conversation.
“She told me to encourage you to test Vanessa,” Rosa said.
“She wanted the conflict to happen before the wedding.”
“Why?”
“So the family would turn against one another.”
“But Vanessa revealed too much.”
“That is why Victoria panicked.”
Rosa had hidden the original letter because she feared both Charles and Victoria would destroy it.
The live broadcast from the chapel had captured Victoria admitting that Charles’s arrest was part of their operation.
It also captured her threats and the attempted coercion of Daniel.
By morning, the entire country knew about the canceled wedding.
The same outlets that had accused me of controlling Daniel now played footage of Victoria holding him at gunpoint.
For the first time in days, the truth was louder than the lie.
But one question remained.
Jonathan had named Charles and Adrian in his letter.
He had not named Victoria.
Instead, he had written only V.
When detectives searched Victoria’s phone, they found dozens of messages from another person.
The contact was saved as VICTOR.
May you like
The final message had been sent minutes before police entered the chapel.
DO NOT LET CLARA LEAVE ALIVE.
