Chapter Two: The Wedding Veil
668 Words
The veil still hung in the hallway.
Tari noticed it every morning as she passed the ornate glass display — a cruel memorial to a day that should have been beautiful but felt more like a funeral. The veil was ivory lace, delicate and soft, its hem trimmed in tiny crystals that shimmered under the chandeliers.
Richard had encased it in a custom frame, mounted on the wall like a trophy.
His trophy.
The day she became his.
The day she disappeared.
---
She remembered the moment she stepped out of the fitting room, dressed in a gown she hadn’t chosen, walking down the aisle of a chapel that smelled like cold stone and roses that weren’t hers.
The veil had been so heavy on her head, suffocating almost — as though woven with the weight of everything she was leaving behind: her independence, her voice, her mother’s fragile hope.
At the altar, Richard hadn’t looked at her — not really. His eyes were elsewhere, calculating, watching the rows of silent men in tailored suits who sat like statues.
There were no bridesmaids. No music. Just her name, said like a transaction.
"I, Richard Felix, take you…"
It was the emptiest vow she’d ever heard.
But the nightmare didn’t begin at the altar.
It began after the honeymoon — or rather, the lack of one.
Instead of Paris or the Maldives like she once dreamed, she was escorted back to the mansion the same night. No champagne. No laughter. Just instructions.
“You’re to remain in the east wing,” Richard told her. “You’ll be assigned a schedule. No unapproved visitors. You may use the garden between 8 and 10 a.m. daily. That is all.”
She blinked at him, confused. “A schedule?”
He didn’t answer. Just walked away.
---
The next morning, she woke to a printed itinerary on the nightstand.
Mrs. Tari Felix
– Wake: 6:30 AM
– Breakfast: 7:00 AM (Dining Room)
– Silence Hour: 8:00–9:00 AM
– Garden Walk: 9:00–10:00 AM
– Reading or Skill Development: 10:30 AM–12:00 PM
– Supervised Call (approved numbers only): 2:00 PM, limited to 5 minutes
– Curfew: 8:30 PM
– No outside contact permitted without clearance.
– Medication will be provided.
Medication?
She wasn’t sick.
But by the end of that week, the house itself began to make her feel that way. Every wall seemed to hum with tension. The maids never met her eyes. Security cameras blinked red from the ceilings. Her calls never went through.
She once asked for her phone back.
The housekeeper, an older woman named Dora, gave her a pitying look and said, “You’re not the first.”
That chilled her more than anything else.
---
Flashback: A Month Earlier
The day after the wedding, Tari had attempted to visit her mother. Richard’s driver picked her up — but instead of the familiar path, he took a different turn. They ended up at a clinic.
A clean, sterile building with smiling nurses.
Her mother wasn’t home anymore.
“New arrangements,” Richard had explained later, pouring himself a drink. “Your mother needed care. Professional care.”
“You moved her without telling me?” she cried.
“She’s safe. That's what you wanted, isn't it?”
Tari had thrown her ring across the room. It clinked against the marble floor like a bell of defiance.
He hadn’t said a word. Just left her there.
She found the ring back on her nightstand the next day.
---
Back to Present
Tari stood before the hallway display, her fingers grazing the glass that caged the veil.
A symbol of surrender. Of submission.
But also... a reminder.
Of who she used to be. And what she still carried inside.
Behind her, a maid coughed quietly.
“Ma’am. Mr. Felix is expecting you in the study.”
Tari turned slowly. Her face calm. But inside, something stirred.
She wasn’t ready.
But she was done being afraid.
- Writer
