Chapter 2 - Margaret Opens Chloe’s Second Hidden Message
Margaret entered the restroom without looking behind her.
She locked herself inside the largest stall and pulled the bouquet note
from her purse.
Only then did she notice another fold.
Inside was a second message.
HE MADE ME SIGN IT. BLUE FOLDER. BRIDAL SUITE SAFE. CALL DANIEL.
Margaret’s heart pounded.
Daniel Hart was Chloe’s older brother.
He was supposed to be at the wedding.
That morning, Maxwell told everyone Daniel’s flight from Chicago had
been canceled.
Margaret took out her phone.
No signal.
That was strange.
The ballroom had excellent reception an hour earlier.
She stepped toward the restroom door.
Cecelia was still outside.
Margaret heard her speaking quietly.
“She knows something.”
A man answered.
“Then don’t let her reach the suite.”
Margaret recognized the voice.
Maxwell’s father, Richard Sterling.
She backed away.
Three nights earlier Chloe had tried to speak privately.
“Mom, if anything happens after I sign—”
Then Maxwell entered.
Margaret had assumed Chloe meant the marriage license or prenuptial
agreement.
Now she understood there had been another document.
Margaret texted Daniel anyway.
The message remained unsent.
Then she remembered the hotel’s service corridor.
She had helped choose the venue and knew the bridal suite connected to a
preparation room behind the ballroom.
Margaret opened the restroom’s staff door and slipped into the corridor.
At the far end stood Chloe’s maid of honor, Emma.
Emma looked terrified.
“Mrs. Bennett?”
“What?”
Emma whispered:
“Daniel is here.”
Margaret stared.
“Where?”
“They wouldn’t let him into the ballroom.”
“Who wouldn’t?”
“Maxwell’s security.”
Then Emma handed Margaret a room key.
“Chloe told me if she couldn’t leave the dance floor, I had to give you
this.”
Margaret closed her fingers around it.
The key opened the bridal suite.
May you like
And if Chloe was right, a blue folder inside the safe explained why a
bride had to beg her mother for help at her own wedding.
