Chapter 1 - Ranger
The ballroom doors burst open.
Ranger raced across the polished floor, the severed end of his leash dragging behind him.
“Ranger?”
Claire recognized the sound of his collar before anyone spoke.
For three days, she had been told her service dog was missing. Hotel staff searched the streets. Leah contacted shelters and veterinary clinics. Vanessa’s family quietly suggested that Ranger had become unreliable.
Now he stopped beside Claire and pressed his head beneath her hand.
She dropped to one knee, fighting tears.
“You came back.”
Daniel stood beside the proposal platform, staring at the dog.
Vanessa remained beneath the chandeliers in her champagne gown, one hand closing around her clutch.
Ranger suddenly turned away from Claire.
He crossed the ballroom and scratched exactly three times at a locked wine cabinet.
An electronic chime sounded from inside.
Claire froze.
“That’s my cane.”
Daniel crouched near Ranger.
“Someone must’ve found him.”
Leah, Ranger’s trainer, examined the severed leash.
A piece of champagne-colored satin was trapped inside the brass clasp.
The same fabric was missing from Vanessa’s sleeve.
She quickly moved her arm behind her gown.
Then her clutch slipped open.
A small cabinet key landed on the floor.
Leah picked it up.
Daniel looked at the torn satin, the key and the locked cabinet.
“Why were her dog and cane locked together?”
Vanessa’s face turned pale.
“I was protecting Claire from a scene.”
Claire stood slowly.
“You told me Ranger had run away.”
“He did.”
“Then how did my cane end up wherever he was taken?”
No one answered.
Daniel took the key and moved it toward the lock.
Vanessa stepped in front of the cabinet.
“You cannot open that before the engagement announcement.”
Claire turned toward her voice.
“Why?”
May you like
Vanessa’s next words changed the entire evening.
“Because the documents inside become valid the moment Daniel proposes.”
