The Bride’s Perfect Smile
Chapter 06 - The Bride’s Perfect Smile
Lena forced open the bathroom window, and they climbed onto a narrow service ledge three floors above the alley. Nora’s knees shook, but fear of Conrad was stronger than fear of falling. They reached a fire stair and escaped moments before two men entered room 314.
Inside the abandoned patient file cabinet, Lena had found one torn transfer slip. Evelyn had been moved that morning to a private clinic owned by Vale Wellness Group—Vanessa’s family company.
The bride was not an innocent bystander. Nora remembered Vanessa’s hand resting on the left lapel and the warning hidden in her perfect smile. Whether she had planned the murder or was being forced into it, she knew enough to recognize the place where Julian was meant to fall.
Back at Hartwell House, Julian raised a glass during the rehearsal toast and praised Conrad for being “the father who never failed him.” The guests applauded. Conrad smiled proudly, unaware that Julian had already copied files from his office computer onto a tiny drive hidden in his cuff.
Vanessa found him in the library afterward.
“You disappeared during dessert,” she said.
“I needed air.”
She closed the door behind her. “Tomorrow has to be perfect, Julian. No surprises. No delays.”
Her voice was still sweet, but desperation trembled beneath it. Julian asked why her family clinic had accepted a patient named Eleanor March from Saint Mercy. Vanessa’s smile vanished for half a second.
Then she laughed. “I have no idea who that is.”
It was the wrong answer. Julian had not mentioned Eleanor March.
Vanessa stepped closer and lowered her voice. “You don’t understand what your uncle can do. Marry me tomorrow, sign the trust transfer, and we can both survive this.”
“Survive what?”
Before she could answer, Conrad entered. Vanessa immediately kissed Julian, turning the moment into a romantic scene for anyone watching from the hall.
Later, Nora called from Lena’s car. Julian told her about the files. They contained payments to the clinic, the original tailor, and a private security company. One document referred to “ceremonial contingency,” with a final payment due after the vows.
The plan was larger than a hidden needle.
Nora returned secretly to the mansion through the kitchen entrance to examine the tuxedo again. It was gone from the locked storage room.
In its place hung an identical white suit.
May you like
She opened the lining and found no photograph, no loose stitches, and no sign it had ever been altered.
Someone had switched the suits—and the dangerous one was now somewhere inside the house.
