Not Bianca.
Celeste.
Bianca stared at her.
“You had Dad’s car?”
Celeste shouted:
“I borrowed it!”
My legs weakened.
Adrian moved in front of me.
“Were you driving?”
“No!”
“Then who was?”
“I don’t know.”
Police had not charged anyone.
Adrian was careful about that.
A registered vehicle did not prove a driver.
A partial plate did not prove who caused the collision.
But Celeste had never told investigators she had access to that SUV.
And after learning footage existed, she tried to get it erased.
That was enough to make the room feel suddenly dangerous.
PART 10
Two officers entered the chapel.
They did not arrest Celeste dramatically at the altar.
Real investigations do not work according to wedding timing.
They asked her to step outside and speak with them.
She refused at first.
Then Adrian said:
“Mom, go.”
She stared at him.
“You’re choosing her over me?”
He answered:
“No. I’m choosing the truth over you.”
That sentence silenced her.
Celeste left with the officers.
Bianca remained in the aisle in her white gown.
Everyone stared at her.
She looked at me.
“I didn’t know about the SUV.”
I believed she was telling the truth.
At least about that.
Then she whispered:
“I shouldn’t have come.”
“No.”
She looked down.
“You shouldn’t have.”
PART 11
Bianca turned to leave.
I stopped her.
“Why did you agree?”
She closed her eyes.
“Celeste told me Adrian was marrying you because he felt responsible
after the crash.”
“For what?”
“She said you two had argued that night because of the wedding. She said
he blamed himself for you driving upset.”
That was a lie.
Adrian and I had not argued.
Bianca continued:
“She said he needed to see what his life could have looked like.”
“So you wore a wedding gown?”
Her face reddened.
“I thought it would make him stop and think.”
It was selfish.
Humiliating.
But it was not the same as causing my crash.
I could separate those things.
PART 12
The wedding did not continue immediately.
I went into the bridal room.
Adrian followed only after asking permission.
I sat in front of a mirror.
For the first time since the crash, I did not turn it away.
The scars were visible beneath my makeup.
Raised lines crossed my cheek and temple.
I began crying.
“Did you know she would bring Bianca?”
“I suspected something after Marcus captured that recording.”
“You let it happen?”
“I needed evidence of what Mom was planning, but I didn’t know Bianca
would actually walk into the chapel dressed like that.”
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