Chapter 2 - The Red Stain Clue
My heart hammered wildly against my ribs as I looked down at the dark reddish-brown mark on the white fitted sheet.
I raised my fingers to my nose, inhaling the faint, unmistakable copper scent mixed with sweet herbal tea and concentrated sleeping sedatives.
It wasn't red wine, and it certainly wasn't the whiskey Victoria had pretended to guzzle at our reception.
It was dried blood mixed with liquid sedative drops—the exact prescription sleep medication Victoria claimed she only took for chronic insomnia.
"Julian, open your eyes," I said, my voice dropping into a razor-sharp, quiet frequency that filled the sunlit bedroom.
Julian’s eyelashes fluttered, but he kept his head turned away toward the window, pretending to drift back into sleep.
Victoria slid out of the bed with alarming agility, smoothing down her designer silk nightgown without a hint of morning grogginess.
"Elena, dear, don't be so dramatic," Victoria purred, stepping around the bed to stand directly between me and my husband.
"I had a nosebleed during the night because of the dry air conditioning in this guest house."
"You know how delicate my capillaries are when I get stressed or overwhelmed."
I stared at her immaculate face—there was not a single trace of dry blood around her nostrils or on her silk collar.
I reached out and pulled the top sheet back further, exposing a small glass vial tucked beside Julian's hip.
The label read Zolpidem Tartrate—a heavy liquid sedative prescribed directly to Victoria Vance by her private physician in Greenwich.
"Why is your liquid prescription sleeping medication under my husband's hip, Victoria?" I demanded, looking straight into her cold, calculating eyes.
Victoria’s cheerful demeanor vanished in a split second, replaced by a dark, possessive sneer that sent a shiver down my spine.
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"Because this is my family's house, Elena," Victoria whispered leaning in so close I could smell her minty breath.
"And you are just a temporary visitor."
