Chapter 2 - The Name on the ScreenNobody moved.
Daniel's phone continued ringing.
The sound seemed impossibly loud inside the ballroom.
Guests stopped talking.
A few people turned around.
Vanessa stared at the screen.
Marcus.
The name glowed beneath the wedding lights.
Daniel looked at his wife.
"Who is Marcus?"
Vanessa swallowed.
"No one."
Daniel frowned.
"Then why do you look terrified?"
"I don't."
"You do."
She reached for his phone.
Daniel pulled it away.
The phone stopped ringing.
A second later, a text message appeared.
Daniel read it.
His face changed again.
I watched him carefully.
"What did he say?" Vanessa whispered.
Daniel looked at me.
Then at her.
"He says, 'Ask your wife why she lied about the night of April fourteenth.'"
The room erupted into whispers.
Vanessa grabbed his arm.
"Don't listen to him."
Daniel pulled away.
"Who is Marcus?"
"He was an employee."
"Was?"
She said nothing.
I stepped back.
This wasn't my moment to control.
It was theirs.
Daniel looked at me.
"You know him?"
I nodded.
"Yes."
Vanessa snapped:
"She doesn't know anything."
I looked at her.
"That's not true."
Daniel's expression hardened.
"What happened on April fourteenth?"
Vanessa stared at me.
I could see the panic rising behind her eyes.
Six months earlier, she had called me at midnight.
She had been crying.
She told me she had made a terrible mistake.
She said Marcus had threatened to expose her.
She begged me to come.
I did.
Because I always did.
When I arrived at her apartment, I found her standing beside a broken glass table.
Marcus was there.
He was furious.
He accused Vanessa of stealing money from a company account.
She denied it.
Then he showed her proof.
I had recorded the conversation because I was afraid.
I never expected to use it.
But that night, Vanessa looked at me and said:
"Please don't tell Daniel."
I asked why.
She said:
"Because if he finds out, he'll leave me."
I didn't understand the full story.
Not then.
I only knew she had taken money.
And I knew Marcus had evidence.
Two days later, Vanessa told me Marcus had died in a car accident.
She said his phone had been destroyed.
The evidence was gone.
She told me I could forget everything.
I tried.
But I kept the recording.
Because something about the story never felt right.
Now Marcus was calling Daniel.
Alive.
Very much alive.
Daniel looked at Vanessa.
"Where is he?"
"I don't know."
"Then why is he calling me?"
"I don't know."
"Stop saying that."
His voice cracked across the ballroom.
Vanessa flinched.
Guests were no longer pretending not to listen.
Her parents stood near the dance floor.
Her mother looked horrified.
Her father looked furious.
Daniel turned to me.
"What happened that night?"
Vanessa stepped between us.
"Claire is trying to destroy our marriage."
I shook my head.
"No."
"You've always hated me."
"No."
"You've always been jealous."
"No."
"Then why are you doing this?"
I looked at her.
"Because you lied."
Her face tightened.
"About what?"
"About Marcus."
Silence.
Daniel looked at her.
"Who is he?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Then Daniel's phone rang again.
This time the screen showed a different number.
Unknown.
He answered.
"Hello?"
A man's voice came through.
I couldn't hear everything.
But Daniel could.
His face became increasingly pale.
Then he looked at Vanessa.
"What did you do?"
Vanessa stepped backward.
The man on the phone said something else.
Daniel turned toward me.
"Is this your recording?"
I nodded.
"Can I hear it?"
I picked up the phone.
Before I could play it, Vanessa grabbed my wrist.
"Please."
It was the first time she had ever said that word to me.
Not as an order.
As a plea.
I looked at her.
"Please what?"
"Don't do this here."
I pulled my hand away.
"Where should I do it?"
She whispered:
"Somewhere private."
I looked around the ballroom.
Hundreds of people were watching.
Then I looked at Daniel.
He was waiting.
"No."
Vanessa's eyes filled with tears.
"Claire."
"You made sure everyone believed I was the problem."
I held up the phone.
"You seated me beside the trash because you wanted me humiliated."
She looked down.
"You thought I'd stay quiet."
I placed the phone on the table.
"I won't."
Daniel reached for it.
Vanessa grabbed his hand.
"No."
Daniel stared at her.
"Why?"
She couldn't answer.
He pulled the phone away.
The recording began.
At first, there was only static.
Then Vanessa's voice.
Clear.
Terrified.
"If Marcus tells Daniel, everything is over."
The ballroom went silent.
Then Marcus's voice.
"You should have thought about that before you stole the money."
Gasps spread through the room.
Daniel slowly turned toward Vanessa.
"You stole money?"
Vanessa closed her eyes.
The recording continued.
"I didn't steal it."
Marcus laughed.
"Then explain the transfers."
There was a pause.
Then Vanessa said something that made Daniel's entire expression collapse.
"I needed it. Daniel's father demanded the money back, and I couldn't let him know I had lost it."
Daniel stared at her.
"What?"
Vanessa looked at him.
"I can explain."
But the recording continued.
And then came the sentence that destroyed the version of the story she had rehearsed for months.
"If I have to blame Claire, I will."
My sister's face went white.
Daniel slowly looked at me.
The guests looked at her.
May you like
Nobody laughed anymore.
And the phone kept playing.
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