The Second Glass
Chapter 12 - The Second Glass
There had been two orange drinks.
Emma remembered only after reviewing her original video frame by frame. One glass sat closer to the flower arch. The other stood at the edge of the tray.
The wedding plan listed orange juice for Camila and Roberto because both avoided alcohol before public speeches.
Adrian had touched both glasses.
The laboratory still possessed only Camila’s.
The second glass had disappeared during the confusion.
Roberto’s face hardened when detectives told him. If the second drink contained the same mixture, the plan may have targeted both father and daughter. An incapacitated Roberto could not intervene while Adrian used Camila’s authorization.
Security footage showed a groomsman carrying the second glass away after Emma knocked the tray. He claimed he thought it was his.
He had taken one sip, felt dizzy, and poured the rest into a garden planter. He assumed champagne and heat caused the reaction.
Soil from the planter tested positive for the same sedative.
The plan had been more aggressive than anyone knew.
Roberto sat alone in the empty ceremony garden after the result came back. Workers had removed the chairs, but the flower arch remained, browning at the edges.
Emma found him there when she returned to sign another statement.
“I built gates around my daughter,” he said. “Then invited the danger to dinner.”
Emma did not know how to comfort billionaires.
So she told him the truth.
“Camila trusted him. That isn’t a crime.”
“No. But I taught her that protecting the family image mattered.”
He looked toward the place where the glasses had stood.
“Yesterday, image almost killed us.”
For the first time, Roberto Reyes sounded less like a tycoon than a father who understood how close he had come to losing everything.
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The groomsman who tasted the second drink spent the night under medical observation. His symptoms faded, but the result gave prosecutors another living witness. Adrian’s team could no longer argue the mixture was intended as a harmless calming aid for Camila alone.
Roberto visited the man at the hospital and apologized. The groomsman laughed weakly. “I thought I was stealing the good juice,” he said. The humor broke something in Roberto, who stepped into the hallway and cried where no board member could see him.
