Chapter 3 The Missing Bride
1178 Words
“Tell me exactly where you were.”
Edward's voice stopped the room.
“From the moment the reception ended until the moment I woke up. I want every detail.”
Lilian lowered her eyes and pressed a hand to her collarbone.
She didn't answer immediately.
She let the silence stretch.
Then she whispered, “I was locked in the east guest room.”
Her voice cracked perfectly on the last word.
Edward's expression changed.
“Locked in?”
Lilian nodded.
“I heard the bolt slide from outside. I tried the door. I shouted. I hit it until my hands hurt.”
She looked down at them as though remembering the pain.
“No one came.”
Edward's gaze shifted toward her.
“Who locked you in?”
Lilian's lips parted.
She didn't answer.
The silence was enough.
Arora's stomach tightened.
“I never went near the east wing.”
Her voice came out harder than she'd intended.
“I don't even know where the east guest room is.”
Edward looked at her.
“I was unconscious or drugged. I don't know what happened after eleven, but I wasn't wandering around the manor locking doors.”
“How convenient,” Victoria murmured.
She dabbed beneath one eye with her handkerchief.
There wasn't a tear there.
Arora looked at her mother.
“Do you really believe I did this?”
Victoria sighed.
“I don't know what to believe anymore.”
Before Arora could answer, the drawing-room door opened.
A young maid stepped inside.
She stopped just beyond the doorway, clutching her apron in both hands.
Edward turned toward her.
“Eve.”
The girl swallowed.
“Yes, sir?”
“You were working last night.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell me what you saw.”
Eve's eyes flicked toward Arora.
Then away.
“I saw Miss Arora near the east corridor.”
Arora's breath caught.
“When?”
“Around midnight.”
“That isn't possible.”
Eve continued quickly, as though afraid she would lose her nerve.
“She was standing outside the guest room.”
The room seemed to tilt.
“No.”
Arora stared at her.
“I don't remember midnight.”
She stepped closer.
“I don't remember anything after eleven. Eve, you must be mistaken.”
“Are you calling her a liar?”
Victoria's voice sharpened.
Arora turned toward her.
“I'm saying she's wrong.”
Then she looked back at the maid.
“Eve.”
The girl kept her head lowered.
“Look at me.”
Slowly, Eve raised her eyes.
“Are you certain?”
A pause.
“I…”
Her fingers tightened around the apron.
“Yes, Miss. I'm certain.”
But her voice shook.
Just once.
It was barely noticeable.
Arora noticed.
Someone had told her what to say.
And Eve wasn't good at lying.
“Edward.”
Arora turned.
“Look at her. She won't even look at me. Someone told her to say this.”
“Or she's telling the truth.”
His answer came without hesitation.
“A witness places you outside the room where Lilian says she was locked.”
“That doesn't prove anything.”
“Your mother says you've resented your sister for years.”
“My mother isn't a witness to what happened last night.”
His eyes hardened.
“Then why does every piece of evidence point toward you?”
“Because someone is making it point toward me.”
Edward said nothing.
Arora could feel herself losing him.
She forced herself to stay calm.
“Pull the security footage.”
His expression didn't change.
“Ask the other staff. Check the locks. Check my room. Do something besides accepting the word of one frightened girl who can't even look at me.”
“I don't need to investigate a house full of people telling me the same thing.”
“You haven't investigated anything.”
“I've heard enough.”
“No, you haven't.”
Her voice broke.
She hated that it did.
“I woke up with no memory of the night. I'm the one person in this room who needs to know what happened, and you're treating me like I've already been convicted.”
Edward's face remained unreadable.
“You stole my wedding night from my wife.”
“I didn't.”
“You're asking me to believe that.”
“I'm asking you to find out.”
He stared at her for several seconds.
Then he spoke.
“You'll remain in the west wing until I decide what happens next.”
Arora blinked.
“What?”
“No calls. No visitors except your parents, if they choose to see you.”
“You're confining me?”
“Yes.”
“Because a maid says she saw me?”
“Because too many things happened last night, and I won't take another chance.”
Arora stared at him.
“You're punishing me instead of investigating.”
“This isn't punishment.”
“What would you call it?”
“Precaution.”
A bitter laugh escaped her mouth.
“That's convenient.”
Edward's eyes narrowed.
“This family humiliated me once. It won't happen again under my roof.”
He turned toward the door.
“Edward.”
He stopped.
Arora took a breath.
“You're making a mistake.”
He looked back at her.
“I hope you're right.”
Then he left.
The door closed behind him.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Arora looked at Eve.
The girl was still staring at the floor.
Her mother stood perfectly still.
And Lilian was trembling against the back of a chair, playing the frightened bride everyone expected her to be.
But Arora wasn't watching her hands.
She was watching her eyes.
There was no fear there.
Arora's stomach turned.
The locked room.
The maid.
Her mother's accusations.
Lilian's story.
It was too neat.
Too complete.
Even Victoria's grief had arrived before she'd known exactly what had happened.
Someone had prepared this.
Not after Edward woke up.
Before.
Someone had known Arora would wake up in Edward's bed.
Someone had planned for her to have no memory.
Someone had made sure the story would point in one direction.
Toward her.
Arora opened her mouth.
Then Edward's phone buzzed.
He pulled it from his pocket, clearly irritated by the interruption.
He glanced at the screen.
And stopped.
His expression changed.
Victoria noticed.
“What is it?”
Edward didn't answer.
He read the message again.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
Then he looked up.
“Someone sent me a recording.”
The room went quiet.
Arora's pulse quickened.
“What recording?”
Edward's eyes settled on her.
There was something different in them now.
Not anger.
Something colder.
“They say it proves you planned this.”
Arora shook her head immediately.
“No.”
“They say you intended to take Lilian's place from the beginning.”
“Edward, I never…”
He held up a hand.
“Let's find out.”
He pressed play.
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