Chapter 2 - The Engagement Dinner
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Forty-eight hours earlier, none of this nightmare had started with iron or blood.
It started with a gold-embossed wedding invitation sitting on a white linen tablecloth at an expensive seafood restaurant in La Jolla.
"To the future Mr. and Mrs. Austin Wellman!" my mother had cheered, raising her glass of champagne.
My brother Austin sat beside Naomi Millican, smiling his practiced, perfect smile. Naomi was twenty-six, gentle, and the only daughter of a major San Diego real estate developer. Austin had spent six months courting her, convincing her family he was an independent investment consultant.
Whenever I brought up his vague job history, my mother brushed it off.
"Austin works under the radar, Monica," Amanda would scoff. "Not everyone needs a boring audit desk like yours."
Halfway through the dinner, a passing waiter accidentally caught the strap of Naomi’s oversized designer handbag with his tray. The bag tumbled off her chair, spilling its contents across the polished wood floor.
"Oh, I'm so clumsy!" Naomi gasped, dropping to her knees.
"Let me help you," I said, crouching beside her before Austin could react.
I gathered lipstick, a compact, and a folded leather document holder that had burst open. As I slid a thick parchment paper back inside, a bold state seal caught my eye.
It wasn't a receipt or a property deed.
It was a certified Marriage Certificate.
Austin David Wellman and Kathleen Marie Hilliard.
The date at the bottom was stamped five years prior.
My hands froze. My brain reeled, trying to process the black ink on the page. Austin was actively engaged to Naomi, planning a two-hundred-guest wedding for next spring—and he was already legally married.
"Monica? Did you get everything?" Naomi asked softly, looking at me with sweet, trusting blue eyes.
I quickly folded the document and handed her the leather holder, keeping my face completely blank.
May you like
"Got it all right here," I managed to say.
Across the table, Austin’s eyes locked onto mine. The charming smile remained on his lips, but behind his dark eyes, a dangerous light flickered. He knew I had seen it.
