Chapter 2 - The Knife Behind the Smile
For almost five years, Emily had believed Nathan Harrington was incapable of losing control.
He never yelled in public.
He never slammed doors.
He never forgot anniversaries.
He was the kind of man who could destroy someone with a quiet sentence and continue eating dinner without changing his expression.
But the man standing in the ballroom was no longer hiding.
“Move, Rosa.”
Nathan’s voice was strangely calm.
Rosa spread her arms.
“No.”
Margaret staggered backward.
“Nathan, put that down.”
He ignored his mother.
Emily slowly rose from the staircase.
Her knees shook.
“Nathan, why are there wires in those cutters?”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t understand what you’re looking at.”
“I understand exactly what I’m looking at.”
“No, you don’t.”
Rosa glanced toward the guests.
“Call the police.”
Nathan moved immediately.
He grabbed Rosa by the arm and shoved her against the banister.
Emily screamed.
Several guests rushed forward.
Nathan swung the knife.
They stopped.
“Back up.”
His voice cracked through the room.
“No one comes closer.”
Emily stared at the man she had slept beside the night before.
“Nathan, I’m carrying your daughter.”
His eyes flickered toward her stomach.
For half a second, something that resembled pain crossed his face.
Then it vanished.
“That’s the problem.”
Emily felt the air leave her lungs.
“What?”
Nathan tightened his grip on the knife.
Before he could answer, a man near the doorway shouted.
“Police are coming.”
Nathan’s head snapped around.
That moment was enough.
Rosa drove her elbow into his wrist.
The knife fell.
Emily kicked it across the floor.
Nathan lunged toward her.
Rosa tackled him from the side.
They crashed into a table.
Champagne bottles shattered.
Three guests piled onto Nathan.
He fought with a desperation Emily had never seen.
“Get off me.”
“You don’t know what she did.”
Emily backed against the staircase.
“What I did?”
Nathan looked directly at her.
His face suddenly filled with hatred.
“You opened something that should have stayed buried.”
Police sirens wailed outside.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Emily stared at Nathan.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Nathan laughed.
It was a broken, humorless sound.
“You will.”
Then he looked at Rosa.
“And so will she.”
Rosa’s expression changed.
Emily noticed it immediately.
Fear appeared in the maid’s eyes again.
But this time, it had nothing to do with the chandelier.
Emily whispered.
“Rosa.”
May you like
Rosa would not look at her.
“What secret is he talking about?”
