Chapter 4
The backyard patio filled quickly with laughing relatives, clinking champagne flutes, and bright chatter about how magical the wedding ceremony had been. Elena sat near the edge of the stone patio, mechanically stirring her iced tea while dodging questions about where Julian spent the morning.
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Victoria working the crowd like a seasoned politician, accepting compliments on her elegance and poise. It was impossible to reconcile this poised society woman with the unsettling figure Elena had found tangled in the sheets at dawn.
Julian approached her chair, holding a plate of pastries with a placid, reconciliatory smile plastered across his handsome face. “Are you feeling a bit better now, honey? We have our flight to the Maldives tomorrow, so let's try to enjoy the brunch,” Julian offered softly.
“I'm not going anywhere with you until you explain what happened in our bedroom last night, Julian,” Elena stated without looking up. Julian’s pleasant expression flickered for a second, replaced by a flash of genuine irritation that he quickly masked behind a sigh.
“You're letting your imagination run wild because you're exhausted from the wedding planning stress,” Julian dismissed, leaning down to pat her shoulder. “My imagination didn't leave a mysterious biological stain on our mattress sheets, Julian!” Elena hissed under her breath.
“Lower your voice! People are watching us!” Julian hissed back, his grip tightening painfully on the edge of the pastry plate. “Let them look! Maybe they should know what kind of bizarre household I just married into!” Elena retorted, standing up abruptly.
She walked past him toward the side entrance of the house, needing to escape the suffocating performance unfolding under the bright morning sun. Instead of heading to the front, she slipped back upstairs while everyone was distracted by the catered mimosa station outside.
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The master bedroom door was locked from the inside, a heavy deadbolt having been engaged sometime during the brunch setup downstairs. Elena pressed her ear against the solid oak wood, listening intently for any sound of movement or whispered conversations inside.
Faint rustling fabric and the sound of someone sliding a heavy object across the hardwood floor drifted softly through the barrier. They were cleaning the room, scrubbing away whatever evidence remained on that bed before Elena could collect proper samples.
