Chapter 2: The Photograph in My Sleeve
The paramedics arrived in eight minutes.
Rosa stood at the door and waved them in before Preston could say a word.
While they flushed my eyes at the kitchen sink, I heard Veronica speaking quietly to Preston in the hallway.
"Make sure she understands how this looks," she said.
"A new bride, emotional, clumsy.
These things happen."
"She'll calm down," Preston said.
"She had better.
The refinancing closes in three weeks.
I need her cooperative, not filing reports."
I said nothing.
I let them believe I could not hear over the running water.
One of the paramedics leaned close.
"Ma'am, we strongly recommend you come with us.
This chemical can cause lasting damage if it wasn't fully rinsed in time."
"I know," I said quietly.
Rosa pressed a folded piece of paper into my hand before I was helped to the stretcher.
I tucked it inside my sleeve without looking at it.
In the ambulance, I finally opened it.
It was a photograph.
Printed from a phone.
It showed Veronica at the Caldwell front desk three days before the wedding, signing a document beside a man I recognized immediately.
He was my father's senior legal counsel.
My hands stopped shaking.
For the first time since hitting that floor, I felt completely calm.
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What Amelia found inside that envelope changed everything — and the Caldwells had no idea what was already in motion.
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