CHAPTER 9 – VANESSA’S SECOND FACE
Vanessa found Nathan in the side garden twenty minutes later.
Her red dress looked less triumphant now. Her perfect hair had loosened slightly. Her mascara had not run—she was too controlled for that—but her face had lost its polished certainty.
“Nathan,” she said.
Miles stepped forward. Nathan raised a hand to stop him.
Vanessa looked at the hand.
The standing hand.
The hand no longer resting helplessly on a wheelchair armrest.
“I said something cruel,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
“I was angry.”
“Yes.”
“I have been grieving too.”
Nathan studied her face. “What were you grieving?”
She opened her mouth.
No answer came.
The silence did not surprise him.
She had not grieved his pain. She had grieved the loss of the version of him that made her life shine.
He stood slowly. His legs ached. He did not hide it. Pain was not shame.
“Did you know about the car?” he asked.
Her eyes flickered.
Only once.
But enough.
Claire saw it.
Miles saw it.
Nathan saw it.
Vanessa recovered quickly. “What car?”
Nathan’s grief hardened.
“The one that nearly killed me.”
Her lips parted.
This time, no performance arrived fast enough.
May you like
Nathan looked at her and understood the wedding reveal had only opened the first door.
Behind it was something darker.
