Chapter 1 - The Woman Who Stopped the Wedding
Chloe Henderson stumbled between the cathedral pews and whispered:
"Arthur... don't drink it."
Arthur Romano ran from the altar and caught her, and the silver ceremonial chalice remained behind him beside the wedding certificate.
A tiny scratch marked its base.
Three letters had been carved into the silver:
V.C.R.
This wasn't a wedding interruption.
It was a warning.
Three minutes earlier, Arthur Romano had been standing beside Vivian Croft beneath an arch of white roses while nearly a thousand guests waited for them to become husband and wife.
Now he was kneeling on cold marble with Chloe Henderson in his arms.
Everything else disappeared.
The priest.
The guests.
The photographers.
Vivian.
Even the wedding itself.
"Chloe."
Arthur said her name like he had forgotten how to breathe.
Her eyelids fluttered.
Rainwater clung to strands of brown hair against her round face. Her coat was soaked. Her skin looked frighteningly pale.
"Look at me."
Arthur slid one arm behind her shoulders.
"I'm okay," she whispered.
"No, you're not."
"Arthur—"
"Someone call a doctor."
Several guests moved at once.
Chloe caught the lapel of his black jacket.
"No."
Arthur looked down.
That was when her coat slipped farther apart.
He saw the cream maternity dress.
Then he saw her stomach.
Arthur stopped breathing.
Chloe had always been a full-figured woman. Soft-bodied, broad-hipped, with the kind of round face that made her smile seem warmer than it had any right to be after a fourteen-hour shift at Henderson's Diner.
Arthur had loved every inch of her.
But this wasn't simply the familiar softness of Chloe's body.
She was unmistakably pregnant.
Very pregnant.
His eyes remained on her stomach.
"How far?"
Chloe closed her eyes.
"Arthur."
"How far?"
"Thirty weeks."
The cathedral seemed to go silent before it actually did.
Arthur counted.
He didn't need a calendar.
Thirty weeks.
Two months since he'd left Chicago without seeing her.
Nearly seven months since the night they'd spent in her apartment talking about a future neither of them had known was about to be stolen.
His face changed.
"Mine?"
Chloe's eyes opened.
There was pain in them now, but there was anger too.
"Whose else would it be?"
Arthur recoiled as though she'd struck him.
Behind them came the soft sound of flowers hitting the floor.
Vivian had lowered her bouquet.
Her expression was unreadable.
Arthur looked back at Chloe.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Chloe actually laughed.
It was weak and bitter.
"Tell you?"
"Yes."
"You vanished."
"I—"
"You changed your number. You stopped coming to the diner. Your apartment was empty. Nobody would tell me where you'd gone."
Arthur stared at her.
"I never changed my number."
Chloe went still.
"What?"
"My phone was taken."
"Taken by who?"
Before Arthur could answer, Chloe's fingers tightened around his jacket.
"The cup."
Her breathing had become shallow.
Arthur leaned closer.
"What cup?"
"The wine."
She turned her head toward the altar.
The silver ceremonial chalice waited beneath the flowers.
"Don't drink from it."
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"I heard them."
"Who?"
"Two men. At the diner."
Arthur's expression hardened.
"What did they say?"
Chloe swallowed.
Her eyes drifted toward the Croft family.
Vivian's father, Richard Croft, had risen from the front pew.
"They said you'd be dead before dessert."
A murmur moved through the cathedral.
Richard's face tightened.
"This is absurd."
Arthur didn't even look at him.
"What exactly did you hear?" he asked Chloe.
"'He drinks from the cup, it's finished.'"
Arthur finally turned.
Nobody moved.
The ceremonial cup suddenly seemed to occupy the entire cathedral.
Vivian stepped away from the altar.
"Arthur."
He looked at her.
"Did you know about this?"
"No."
Her answer came quickly.
Too quickly.
Richard moved into the aisle.
"This woman crashes my daughter's wedding carrying another man's child, invents an accusation, and we're standing here listening to her?"
Arthur rose slowly.
He lifted Chloe with him, keeping an arm around her.
"Careful."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not."
Richard scoffed.
"Arthur, control yourself."
Arthur looked at him.
The room changed.
Arthur Romano had built a reputation on never raising his voice when anger would do more damage quietly.
"Don't tell me to control myself while the mother of my child can barely stand."
The words landed harder than a shout.
Chloe looked at him.
Mother of my child.
He'd said it without hesitation.
Richard's jaw tightened.
Vivian closed her eyes.
Arthur noticed.
"Vivian?"
She opened them.
"I didn't know she was pregnant."
"That wasn't what I asked."
"I didn't know about the cup."
Chloe swayed.
Arthur caught her again.
A woman hurried from the third pew.
"I'm a physician."
Arthur stepped aside enough to let her examine Chloe.
The doctor checked her pulse.
"How many weeks?"
"Thirty."
"Any complications?"
Chloe hesitated.
Arthur noticed.
"Chloe?"
"My blood pressure has been high."
The doctor frowned.
"How high?"
"My doctor told me to go straight to the hospital if the headaches got worse."
Arthur stared at her.
"You walked here?"
"It's four blocks."
"In freezing rain?"
"I couldn't exactly call you."
The words cut him.
The doctor touched Chloe's wrist.
"We need an ambulance."
"No."
"Chloe—"
"I came here for a reason."
"And you accomplished it," Arthur said. "I'm not drinking anything."
Richard threw up his hands.
"This is madness."
Arthur turned toward one of the men standing near the side aisle.
"Daniel."
A broad-shouldered man in a dark suit stepped forward.
"Sir."
"Secure the chalice."
Richard moved immediately.
"You have no authority to seize property belonging to this cathedral."
Arthur's gaze shifted to him.
"Then nobody touches it until police arrive."
"Police?"
"Yes."
Richard's confidence flickered.
Only for a second.
But Chloe saw it.
So did Arthur.
Vivian saw something else.
The base of the cup.
Her face lost color.
Arthur followed her stare.
"Vivian?"
She didn't answer.
He moved closer to the altar but stopped before touching anything.
Three letters were scratched into the silver.
V.C.R.
"What does that mean?" Arthur asked.
Vivian stared at them.
Richard spoke first.
"Nothing."
Arthur looked at him.
"I asked Vivian."
Richard fell silent.
Vivian's lips parted.
"I don't know."
Chloe studied her.
Vivian was frightened.
But Chloe suddenly wasn't sure Vivian was frightened of Arthur.
She seemed frightened for him.
Sirens became audible outside.
Arthur returned to Chloe.
She was sitting now, supported by the doctor.
He crouched beside her.
"We're going to the hospital."
"You don't have to come."
Arthur stared at her.
"You're carrying my child."
"And five minutes ago you were marrying someone else."
His face tightened.
"I know what this looks like."
"It looks exactly like what it is."
"No."
Chloe laughed softly.
"Then explain it."
Arthur glanced toward Vivian.
Something passed between them.
Not affection.
Not guilt.
Something darker.
"Not here."
"Convenient."
"Chloe."
"What?"
"I didn't leave you because I stopped loving you."
She froze.
Arthur had lowered his voice.
"I didn't know you were pregnant. I didn't know you were trying to contact me. And this wedding..."
He looked toward Vivian.
"...was never what you think."
Richard stepped forward.
"Arthur."
Arthur ignored him.
Chloe stared at Arthur.
"Then what was it?"
Before he could answer, paramedics entered.
They placed Chloe on a stretcher.
Arthur stayed beside her.
Richard blocked his path.
"You walk out now, everything we agreed to ends."
Arthur looked down at Richard's hand on his arm.
Richard removed it.
Arthur said quietly, "Then it ends."
Vivian inhaled sharply.
Her father turned.
"Vivian, say something."
Vivian stared at Chloe.
Then at Arthur.
For the first time, Chloe saw something unexpected in the bride's eyes.
Relief.
"Go with her," Vivian said.
Richard's face changed.
"Vivian."
"Go," she repeated.
Arthur followed the stretcher.
Chloe watched him as they moved toward the cathedral doors.
"You really didn't know?" she whispered.
Arthur shook his head.
"If I had known, nothing could have kept me away."
Something inside Chloe cracked.
She wanted to believe him.
That frightened her more than hating him had.
Then a cathedral employee shouted behind them.
"Stop!"
Arthur turned.
The man stood beside the altar.
The silver chalice was gone.
Daniel rushed toward him.
"Who took it?"
"I don't know. It was right here."
Arthur looked toward the exits.
One side door was swinging shut.
Someone had just left.
Then Chloe's phone vibrated inside her coat.
She pulled it out.
Unknown number.
One message.
She opened it.
A photograph appeared.
It showed Chloe asleep in her apartment the previous night.
Beneath it were six words:
YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED HOME, CHLOE.
Arthur saw the photograph.
His face went cold.
Then another message arrived.
This one contained only a name.
Arthur read it.
And went completely still.
"Who is Victor Romano?" Chloe whispered.
Arthur slowly looked toward the cathedral door.
May you like
Because Victor Romano had been dead for eleven years.
And someone had just texted from his number.
