The First Five Minutes
Chapter 03 - The First Five Minutes
The hotel manager displayed the footage on the ballroom’s presentation screens.
No audio played at first.
The video showed the signing table thirty minutes before the ceremony.
Julian entered alone.
He placed a small glass containing dark-red fruit punch beneath the tablecloth.
Then he removed his grandmother’s ring from his pocket.
He hid it inside Sophie’s flower basket.
A murmur spread through the guests.
Julian turned toward the exits.
Two hotel security officers quietly stepped into the doorway.
The recording continued.
Julian opened the leather folder and exchanged one page of the marriage agreement.
The original page contained a standard property clause.
The replacement transferred Amanda’s temporary voting rights in Sophie’s trust to Julian after marriage.
He placed the folder on the table and checked the camera.
Then he moved a tall floral arrangement directly beneath it.
He believed the flowers blocked the view.
The camera automatically changed angle.
The final five minutes showed the ceremony.
Sophie approached the table because Julian called her.
He took the hidden cup, splashed the punch across the document, and knocked the basket from her hand.
When the ring appeared, he swung the folder toward her shoulder.
He created the evidence and punished the child for revealing it.
Amanda covered Sophie’s ears, but the room had already seen enough.
Julian did not deny the footage.
He challenged its meaning.
“I was testing her honesty.”
Naomi stared at him.
“You planted a ring on an eight-year-old.”
“She has stolen before.”
Amanda looked toward him.
“When?”
Julian answered, “You saw the reports.”
May you like
The reports had always arrived through Julian.
Amanda had never seen the incidents themselves.
