Chapter 2: The Mother’s Gambit
The silence was so heavy it felt tangible. Then, Eleanor, Clara’s mother—a woman often dismissed by the groom’s circle as "too quiet"—knelt down. She didn't look at Julian. She focused entirely on her daughter, wiping the blood from the cut with a lace handkerchief.
"You didn't take it, darling," Eleanor said, her voice cutting through the hall with the precision of a scalpel. "Because I did."
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A gasp rippled through the room. Julian sneered, his chest swelling with self-righteous triumph. "So, you admit it! You’re both thieves! You're finished—you hear me? I’m calling the police, and I’m taking everything!"
Eleanor stood slowly, her composure terrifying in its stillness. "I placed the ring in your own coat pocket, Julian. Because I wanted to see if you were the man you claimed to be, or the monster I suspected you were."
