Chapter 1 - The Spilled Champagne
Audrey Bellamy looked down at the expensive champagne soaking into her pristine white heel.
The crystal glass lay shattered across the sunlit stones of the terrace.
Lenora Voss immediately reached into her plain maid’s apron for a cloth.
To the wealthy guests holding their breaths, this was a tragic accident caused by clumsy temporary staff.
To Audrey, it was the perfect opportunity to punish the woman who had destroyed her mother’s life.
Audrey felt a cold surge of triumph course through her veins.
“Clean it,” Audrey commanded.
Lenora bent down quickly.
Audrey pulled her foot back just out of reach.
“On your knees,” Audrey said, her voice slicing through the gentle string music of the wedding reception.
The conversations around them began to fade into a heavy, uncomfortable silence.
Lenora looked up at the young bride.
For a long moment, Audrey thought the older woman might refuse and storm off.
Then Lenora slowly lowered herself onto the hard stone.
A few bridesmaids laughed quietly behind their hands.
Other guests simply stared in shock at the blatant display of cruelty.
Lenora kept her head down and began wiping the sticky champagne from Audrey’s shoe.
“That’s what you’re paid for,” Audrey whispered coldly.
The older woman said absolutely nothing.
She kept cleaning because the lucrative property claim Audrey had promised her was worth this temporary humiliation.
Audrey should have stopped there and let the wedding proceed.
She didn’t.
When Lenora tried to stand up, Audrey saw a flash of defiant pride in her eyes.
That single look brought back years of buried anger about her mother’s tears and her father’s betrayal.
Audrey raised her hand and slapped Lenora hard across the face.
The entire terrace went dead silent.
Lenora stumbled backward, her hand flying to her reddened cheek.
Audrey caught her arm to say something else, but Lenora pulled away violently.
They were standing dangerously close to the edge of the deep swimming pool.
Audrey shoved her hard in the chest.
Lenora lost her balance and fell backward into the water with a massive splash.
Several guests screamed in pure shock.
The older woman surfaced coughing loudly, her cheap uniform completely soaked and clinging to her shivering body.
Audrey stood above her, feeling no regret at all.
Then heavy footsteps came running frantically through the parted crowd.
It was Julian, the handsome groom Audrey was supposed to marry in less than an hour.
“What the hell are you doing?” Julian yelled.
Audrey turned toward him with a casual shrug.
“Relax, she’s just the maid,” Audrey said smoothly.
Julian stared at the gasping woman in the pool, his face turning completely pale.
“That’s my mother,” Julian breathed out.
Audrey stopped breathing.
Lenora froze in the water, her eyes wide with sudden terror.
Neither woman had known the other’s true connection to Julian until this exact second.
Julian rushed to the edge of the pool and pulled his shivering mother out of the water.
He wrapped his expensive tuxedo jacket tightly around her shoulders.
Then he turned back toward Audrey, his eyes burning with absolute hatred.
The slap came so fast that Audrey barely even saw his hand move.
Her face snapped sideways as the stinging pain radiated across her cheek.
The wedding guests gasped in collective horror.
Julian aggressively pulled off his silver wedding ring.
“I can’t marry someone like you,” Julian snarled.
He threw the heavy ring onto the wet stone floor.
The fairy-tale wedding was officially over.
Audrey didn’t try to stop him from walking away.
She was too busy staring at Lenora’s face.
Because as Lenora was being led away by her protective son, she didn’t look relieved to be rescued.
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Lenora looked absolutely terrified.
And as Audrey watched them leave, she suddenly noticed Julian slip a folded piece of paper out of Lenora’s wet apron pocket.
