Chapter 1
Vivienne's
"You are pulling it too tight, Vivienne. Do you want to snap my neck before I even reach the altar?"
Camille snapped at me while I was just adjusting her veil. The makeup artist and hairstylist had left only a few minutes before, but the strong smell of perfume and hairspray was still very much in the air. I loosened the lace at the back of her gown a bit, then reached up, to adjust the veil one more time.
"I am securing the train, Camille. If I do not pin it properly, the weight of that veil could actually pull you backward halfway down the aisle."
"Whatever," she said, just dismissing it.
She then turned to the mirror, fixed a dark curl that was out of place, and smoothed her dress a little.
We were sisters, but that was really in name only; there was not much more to it. Camille was the one Father always flaunted, you know, the favorite. And me, I was the one who everyone expected to stay quiet, and just behave myself.
Nathaniel Whitmore was waiting at the altar. Father had forced this whole thing for months actually, completely desperate for Nate's money to save our company from going under, which was a real possibility. This wedding has been the main topic of conversation back home. Our father, he would not let us rest, you know, constantly talking about it.
"Well, hurry up," Camille said then, gripping the edge of the velvet vanity. "My head is pounding, I have not slept in two days, and you hovering over me rea͏lly is not helping things."
A phone buzzed inside the designer bag sitting on the table.
Camille s͏topped adjusting her hair, completely still.
"Are you not going to answer that?" I asked her, pausing with my hand almost on the veil.
"It could be the coordinator."
"Don't touch it!"
She spun around, nearly tripping over her skirt, and snatched the bag. After fumbling with the clasp, she pulled out her phone.
She stared at the screen. Then she read the message again, her fingers tightening around the phone.
"Camille? What is it? The ceremony starts in ten minutes."
"It's nothing." She shoved the phone into her bag. "Just an old friend. A scheduling issue. It doesn't matter."
"Then why do you look like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like you've just received terrible news."
"I said it's nothing, Vivienne!"
She pressed her fingers against her forehead and looked toward the windows.
"I can't breathe in here. The flowers, the dress, the noise. It's too much. I need air."
"You can't go outside. The courtyard is full of reporters. If anyone sees you—"
"I'm not going outside."
Her gaze shifted to the service door leading to the family stairwell.
"I left Grandma's sapphire brooch in the green room downstairs. Father will be furious if I walk down the aisle without it."
"Then let me get it."
"No. I know exactly where I left it." She gathered her heavy skirts. "It's in the bottom drawer of the mahogany bureau in the green room, beneath my spare stockings. I'll be back in five minutes."
She reached the door, then turned back.
"And don't let anyone in. Do you hear me? Not a single person."
Before I could answer, she hurried through the service door and disappeared into the hallway.
I returned to the vanity and picked up the pins she'd left scattered beside the perfume bottles. Camille had been complaining about the wedding all morning, but she'd never asked me to keep everyone away from her before.
I glanced at the door.
Five minutes. That was all she needed.
I finished arranging the veil and checked my watch. Five minutes had passed, but Camille still wasn't back. I waited a few more minutes, hoping she'd return before anyone noticed.
When she still hadn't returned, I went to the service door and listened.
Nothing.
The music coming from the ballroom shifted a little. It was clear that the guests were being told to take their seats now.
I looked at my phone, you know, just to check. Still no message from Camille.
Then there was a quick, kind of urgent knock at the front door.
I opened it, figuring it would be my stepsister standing there, hopefully with the brooch in her hand. That is what I expected.
But it was not her. Instead, Julian, the fellow coordinating the wedding, was out in the corridor. His tailored jacket looked a bit rumpled, and he was wiping his forehead because he was sweating.
“Where is she?” he asked right away
"Who is it you are talking about?"
"Camille, yes. Everyone is seated now, all the guests. And Nathaniel Whitmore is already up there waiting at the altar, he has even begun asking questions. So, where is the bride, precisely?"
"She just stepped out for a minute. She mentioned she needed to grab something."
Julian just stared right at me.
"She left? At this very moment?"
"She will be back. She told me she would only be gone for fi͏ve minutes."
He looked right past me, into the suite, which was completely empty.
"How long ago was that?" I checked my watch then.
"Almost fifteen minutes now."
"Fifteen minutes?"
He pulled the lapel microphone from his jacket, you know, the one he had on.
"Cancel the processional. Inform the groom—"
He stopped short, and he just lowered his hand.
"What exactly am I meant to tell him, Vivienne? That his bride, she just vanished minutes before the whole ceremony was supposed to start?"
"She has not vanished. She went to the green room. I will go and try to find her."
"Then go, now, just go."
His voice got much lower.
"People, they came from all over, flying in for this event. If she does not walk down that aisle, our families, they are just finished."
"Has anyone downstairs seen her?"
"I have already asked all the staff members. No one has seen her at all."
I looked over towards the service door. Camille, she had said that brooch, it was in the green room. If she had gone there, then someone really should have seen her, you would think. Unless she took some other way to get there.
Julian, he hurr͏ied back toward the ballroom area, and he was pressing his hand to his lapel mic.
I hurried through the service door myself and went straight into the stairwell.
The music, it just stopped, right as I reached the first landing.
I froze. All the guests, they were waiting, and Nathaniel, he was still standing there at the altar. Camille was nowhere to be found.
I hurried down the stairs toward the green room, hoping I'd find Camille.
When I reached the door, I pushed it open and looked inside, but she wasn't there.
I checked the mahogany bureau. The bottom drawer was open, but the sapphire brooch was still tucked under the spare stockings.
Camille hadn't come for it.
"My phone buzzed in my hand. I pulled it out, I couldn't believe what I saw."
