Chapter 10 - The Woman Behind the Next Groom
Ana admitted switching Olivia’s glass after finding the sedative. She moved the drugged glass toward Eleanor’s table and gave Olivia a clean one, but said nothing, fearing Grant would cancel the wedding and hide the worker trust. “I let you walk toward danger because I needed the scheme exposed,” she said. Olivia’s voice broke. “Everyone called sacrifice noble when my body carried the risk.” Ana accepted investigation and quit the council. The vineyard became permanently worker-owned. Housing was repaired, health claims funded and coerced marriages reviewed. At the terrace, the restored glass stood beneath a plaque: “THEY CALLED IT A FALL UNTIL EVERYONE SAW THE PUSH.” Olivia attended without Grant’s ring or Eleanor’s name. Then a server found an unopened champagne bottle beneath the pergola. Inside was a phone streaming another vineyard wedding. A woman in a cobalt gown stood near the railing. Behind her was Thomas Reed, raising one hand to signal the groom.
