Chapter 1 - THE CLICK BEHIND THE BATHROOM.
Isabella sat against the ivory-paneled wall, her wedding gown spread across the stone floor like something beautiful that had survived a disaster. A faint red streak marked her temple. One heel lay among crushed rose petals.
Diane and Robert Whitmore froze in the doorway.
“Isabella—what happened?”
She hugged her shoulders tighter.
“He locked the door… then he stopped acting like himself.”
Cameron remained on the edge of the bed, wet hair hanging over his forehead, his white shirt open at the collar. His hands were clenched so tightly his knuckles had turned pale.
Diane’s shock hardened into command.
“Cameron, look at me and explain this.”
He raised his head slowly.
“You think I was the only person in this room?”
Isabella stopped crying.
A metallic click came from the bathroom beside the bed.
Every face turned toward it.
Cameron whispered, “Don’t open it.”
Diane stepped forward anyway.
Isabella’s voice broke.
“He said that before he locked me in.”
Robert finally spoke.
“Who is inside?”
A woman answered from behind the door.
Her voice was weak but clear.
“The person your family planned to blame.”
Then a black phone slid beneath the bathroom door.
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Its screen displayed a video recorded twelve minutes earlier.
Diane was standing over Cameron’s champagne glass.
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