The Bride Saw Red Threads of Desire, Then Fled the Wedding Chapter 06

The Bride Saw Red Threads of Desire, Then Fled the Wedding Chapter 06

I cast the condo’s living room footage onto the ballroom screen.

The room went dead silent.

Camille walked in first. Graham followed.

They kissed in the living room: not a polite kiss, not a friendly one. Her dress landed on the sofa.

They stumbled down the hall together, still wrapped around each other, and disappeared through the

bedroom door.

The footage cut to black.

I picked up a microphone. “The wedding’s off. What you just watched is the groom and my bridesmaid, last night, in the condo he and I bought together.”

Camille let out a frantic laugh. “You can’t even see their faces.”

She pointed at the blurred profiles on the screen.

“It’s fake! Don’t fall for this! She studied graphic design in college; she could edit a video like this in her sleep. She made the whole thing up because she wants out!”

Graham’s boss rose from the head table.

“Tessa, you can’t accuse someone based on half a video. That doesn’t prove anything.”

Graham’s uncle slammed the table and stood.

“He’s right. You can barely see a profile. For all we know, that woman in the video is you.”

Graham’s cousin jumped up, finger aimed at me.

“What is wrong with this woman? She fakes a video and now she’s trying to walk away with the Calders‘

money?”

They came at me from every direction.

Graham walked up and held out his hand. “Delete the footage, and I’ll let the whole thing go.”

Graham’s mother snatched the mic.

“You all heard that, right? The Whitmores slandered my son and sabotaged this wedding.”

“The fifty thousand we put toward this wedding? I’m suing them for every single cent.”

“They cover the reception costs, the planner, everything.”

“And she issues a public apology right here and now and swears she’ll never bring this up again.”

I looked out at the ballroom: Graham’s mother, the guests, every righteous face in the room.

Scarlet tethers tangled above them all, crossing and recrossing like a web no one could see but me.

Graham’s uncle, the one who’d just called me a liar, had a tether running straight to the hotel’s front–of–house

manager.

His cousin, who’d pointed at me and called me a scammer, had a tether that crossed three tables and hooked

into her friend’s husband.

And Graham’s mother, the woman screaming about innocence, had a tether of her own. It led straight to the

head table.

I took the mic from the emcee.

“Fine. You don’t trust the footage. Let’s try something else.”

Graham’s mother sneered.

“What are you going to make up now?”

I raised my hand and pointed at the head table.

“Let’s start with you and Walter. How long have you two been sleeping together?”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

The color left Graham’s mother’s face.

Walter Hargrove fumbled with his glasses at the head table. Wine sloshed across the white tablecloth.

The tether between them pulsed like a neon sign.

“You’re both sweating. That didn’t just start yesterday. This affair has been going on for a while.”

“You’re lying! Shut your mouth!”

Graham’s mother was shaking.

“You’re out of your mind. Who raised you to talk to people like this?”

Walter’s wife stood up.

“Mrs. Calder, is that true?”

“Mrs…. Mrs. Hargrove, please, don’t listen to her. She’s just trying to blow everything up so she can get back

at us.”

“Whether I’m stirring things up and whether they slept together are two different questions.” I looked at Mrs.

Hargrove. “Hire a Pl when you get home. Pull their hotel records from last year. You’ll have your answer by

dinner.”

I didn’t have proof. I didn’t need it. A cheater’s first instinct is always panic.

Walter’s eyes darted to Graham’s mother. That single look said everything.

Mrs. Hargrove picked up her wine glass and threw it in her husband’s face.

The room exploded.

Graham’s mother came at me. My mother stepped between us.

“You’re just going to stand there while your daughter destroys people’s marriages?”

My mother didn’t flinch.

“She’s not making anything up. My daughter has a gift. She’s been able to see the physical ties between people who’ve slept together since she was ten. And the scarlet thread above your son’s head showed up last night, and it leads straight to Camille.”

Camille stumbled backward.

Graham’s uncle was on his feet again.

“Scarlet tether? What kind of supernatural garbage is this? You’re making things up!”

I turned to face him.

“I’m making things up?” I pointed at the hotel manager standing by the door. “That woman right there. You’ve slept with her. Haven’t you?”