The bridal boutique owner answered before the second ring finished.
“Daniel?”
“Yes.”
“Is something wrong?”
I looked at Chloe sitting beside me in the car. She was holding the damp dress inside a bundle of clean towels.
“Yes.”
I told the woman what had happened.
There was a long silence.
Then she asked me to send photographs.
I pulled over outside a gas station and took pictures from every angle. The stained hem. The damaged lace. The soaked lining.
When I sent them, she called again.
“Bring it immediately.”
“Can you save it?”
“I don't know.”
Five words.
That was all she would give me.
We drove the rest of the way without speaking.
At the boutique, two seamstresses met us at the back entrance. They handled the gown carefully, almost reverently.
Chloe stayed several steps away while they inspected it.
One seamstress gently separated the layers.
“There's discoloration.”
Chloe closed her eyes.
The owner looked at me.
“The chlorine may have weakened some of the fibers. The tear is repairable, but we won't know how stable the rest of the dress is until we've treated it.”
“How long?”
She hesitated.
“Five days?”
Another silence.
“We'll work through the night if necessary.”
Chloe touched the lace.
“Will it look the same?”
The woman didn't give her false hope.
“I can't promise that.”
Chloe nodded.
“Thank you for being honest.”
The boutique prepared an emergency restoration estimate.
The number at the bottom made me stare twice.
$4,860.
That was the preliminary figure.
I signed the authorization.
Then I made another call.
Our wedding coordinator answered.
I explained everything.
When I finished, she asked, “Do you want additional security at the ceremony?”
I thought of Harper beside the pool.
“Yes.”
“And the guest list?”
I looked at Chloe.
She was staring at the floor.
“Remove Harper.”
The coordinator paused.
“Your sister?”
“Yes.”
“And your parents?”
I didn't answer immediately.
Chloe looked up.
“Daniel.”
I shook my head.
“They were there.”
“They didn't throw the dress.”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“They're still your parents.”
“I know.”
“And I don't want you to regret something this big because of me.”
I reached across the counter and took her hand.
“This isn't because of you.”
I called the coordinator back.
“Remove my parents too.”
When we returned to the house, the family gathering was still going.
Music played from the patio speaker.
Dad was at the grill.
My aunt was laughing with someone near the pool.
Harper sat at the kitchen island eating chips.
She looked up.
“Well?”
I didn't answer.
“Did they fix it?”
I walked past her.
Chloe followed.
We went upstairs and packed.
Two suitcases.
Clothes for the wedding.
Toiletries.
My laptop.
Chloe's shoes.
The small velvet box containing the earrings her mother had left her.
When we came downstairs, Mom stared at the luggage.
“What are you doing?”
“We're staying at a hotel.”
“For how long?”
“Until the wedding.”
Dad stepped inside.
“Daniel, this is ridiculous.”
I put the suitcase beside the door.
“No. What's ridiculous is that everyone here is acting like a soaked wedding dress is a funny story.”
Harper leaned against the counter.
“I already said I was sorry.”
“You didn't.”
She shrugged.
“Fine. Sorry.”
Her voice contained no apology.
I opened my laptop.
“I brought something.”
Harper's smile disappeared.
I placed three pages on the table.
The first was the boutique estimate.
The second was a printed invoice showing the emergency expenses already accumulating.
The third was a still image from the security camera.
Harper stared at it.
Her face changed.
The camera had captured the patio doors.
It showed her carrying the dress outside.
Not the garment bag.
The dress itself.
Madison was behind her.
Laughing.
Harper looked toward my father.
“Why is that camera recording?”
Dad frowned.
“I installed it years ago.”
“I accessed the account,” I said.
Mom stepped closer.
“Daniel, this is excessive.”
I turned the laptop toward them.
“Watch.”
The footage played.
There was Harper walking outside.
There was the dress in her arms.
There was Chloe appearing moments later.
Then Harper lifted the gown.
And threw it into the pool.
No accident.
No slip.
No misunderstanding.
Harper stared at the screen.
“It was a joke.”
I closed the laptop.
“You knew exactly what you were doing.”
She looked at Chloe.
“I didn't know she'd freak out.”
Chloe flinched.
I stepped between them.
“Don't speak to her.”
Harper's expression sharpened.
“This is my house too.”
“And we're leaving it.”
“Good.”
Dad slammed his hand onto the counter.
“Enough.”
I looked at him.
“You want enough?”
He pointed toward the door.
“You're days away from your wedding.”
“I know.”
“Then act like an adult.”
The irony almost made me smile.
I was the person carrying the consequences of my sister's decision, and somehow I was the immature one for refusing to pretend nothing had happened.
Harper folded her arms.
“You seriously expect me to pay for a dress?”
“I expect you to pay for what you damaged.”
“I don't have thousands of dollars.”
“You have a car.”
Her eyes widened.
“You're not taking my car.”
“I didn't say I was.”
“Then what?”
“You have until tomorrow evening to tell me how you're going to cover the damages.”
Mom stared at me.
“You would threaten your own sister?”
“I would hold my sister accountable.”
“That isn't the same thing.”
“It is when nobody else will.”
Harper looked toward Chloe.
Then she said the sentence that ended whatever possibility of an easy reconciliation remained.
“This is what you wanted, isn't it?”
Chloe stared at her.
“What?”
“You wanted Daniel against us.”
I felt anger rise in my chest.
But Chloe stepped forward before I could answer.
Her voice was quiet.
“I didn't.”
Harper scoffed.
“I spent two weeks listening to you insult me,” Chloe continued.
Harper stopped smiling.
“I didn't tell Daniel.”
Mom lowered her eyes.
“I didn't tell him when you mocked the way I dress.”
Harper said nothing.
“I didn't tell him when you called me boring.”
Still nothing.
“I didn't tell him when you joked that Daniel would regret marrying someone like me.”
Dad shifted uncomfortably.
Chloe's voice trembled.
“I stayed quiet because I knew he loved you.”
Harper looked away.
“I never asked him to remove you from the wedding.”
Chloe looked at me.
“That was his decision.”
Harper stared.
“You uninvited me?”
“Yes.”
“And Mom and Dad?”
“Yes.”
My mother looked wounded.
“You would exclude us from your own wedding?”
I met her eyes.
“Yes.”
“For her?”
I shook my head.
“For what you chose not to do.”
Chloe took my hand.
We walked out.
At the hotel, neither of us spoke much.
We ate takeout from cardboard containers while sitting on the edge of the bed.
Then my phone started vibrating.
Once.
Twice.
Again.
I assumed it was my mother.
It wasn't.
My cousin had sent a message.
Daniel, call me. Harper posted something.
Another message followed.
Please tell me she didn't post that picture.
I opened Facebook.
My stomach tightened.
Harper had uploaded a photograph of Chloe crying beside the pool.
Under it was a long post accusing Chloe of manipulating me into abandoning my family over an innocent prank.
Then I saw the second photograph.
Chloe leaned closer.
Her face drained of color.
I knew immediately that the picture meant something.
It showed Chloe at seventeen, sitting beside her mother in a hospital room.
Elaine was undergoing chemotherapy.
Chloe had fallen asleep beside the bed.
Elaine's hand rested in her hair.
It was an intimate photograph.
One Chloe had never shared with my family.
Harper had written beneath it:
Maybe now everyone understands why Chloe uses her dead mother to control people.
Chloe covered her mouth.
“Where did she get that?”
“I don't know.”
Then a comment appeared from an account neither of us recognized.
Harper, you should delete this before Daniel finds out where you got that photo.
Harper replied:
Who is this?
The stranger answered:
Ask Madison what she stole.
Chloe looked at me.
Her eyes were filled with something more frightening than anger.
Fear.
And suddenly the ruined wedding dress no longer felt like the beginning of the story.
It felt like the first piece of evidence.
Click here to continue reading: PART 3: The Photograph Had Come From Somewhere It Should Never Have Been, and Madison Finally Revealed What She Had Taken From Chloe Years Earlier
Five Days Before the Wedding, One Cruel Joke Turned a Family Celebration Into Something None of Us Could Take Back
Part 2 of 20
