Chapter 1 - There Won’t Be Any Wedding
My name is Maximilian Caruso.
I was forty-three years old when my seven-year-old daughter was deliberately tripped beside a Ferris wheel by a twelve-year-old boy who wanted approval from the woman I was supposed to marry.
The party had been designed to look effortless.
Nothing expensive ever is.
Private fairground.
String lights.
Ferris wheel.
Food stalls.
A reception pavilion with a four-tier wedding-preview cake because Sabine insisted our engagement celebration should feel:
“cinematic.”
Wren did not care about any of that.
She cared about cotton candy.
She walked beside me in a pale yellow dress, white cardigan, and flats, holding a cloud of pink sugar almost as large as her head.
Her brown curls bounced every time she laughed.
I stepped away for perhaps thirty seconds to speak with the event manager.
That was enough.
Colton Pierce stood near the Ferris-wheel line.
Twelve years old.
Designer jacket.
Dark jeans.
Sabine’s godson.
He watched Wren approach.
Then deliberately moved one sneaker into her path.
Wren caught it.
She fell hard onto the padded walkway.
Her cotton candy flew.
Before she could get up, Colton kicked it farther away.
“Take your punishment, you nasty little brat!”
I crossed the distance immediately.
“Wren.”
She looked up.
Her palms were red from the fall.
No broken skin.
No head impact.
I lifted her into my arms.
“Where does it hurt?”
“My knee.”
I checked.
Bruising beginning.
Nothing obviously serious.
Then I turned toward Colton.
That should have been the moment I used words.
Found his parents.
Separated the children.
Called event security.
Instead, I slapped him.
Hard.
His head turned.
One already-loose tooth came free and landed on the walkway.
He stumbled backward into a decorative stack of lightweight wooden produce crates.
They broke apart beneath him.
He landed among the pieces.
A small amount of blood appeared at his mouth.
His cheek turned red.
The entire area went silent.
I looked at him.
“Stay away from her.”
That was when Sabine arrived.
Red dress.
Diamond earrings.
Engagement ring.
She ran past Wren.
Past me.
Straight to Colton.
She pulled him upright.
Put him behind her.
Then looked at me with irritation.
“Stop embarrassing me.”
I stared.
Not:
Is Wren all right?
Not:
What happened?
Me.
Embarrassing her.
I handed Wren briefly to Anthony Greer, one of my security men, because my own anger was becoming dangerous.
Then I looked at Sabine.
“You stood there and watched him do that.”
She lifted her chin.
No denial.
No confusion.
“Because she won’t matter anymore after our wedding.”
Every sound around me seemed to disappear.
Ferris wheel.
Children.
Music.
Guests.
Nothing.
“What did you say?”
Sabine’s eyes flicked toward Wren.
Then back to me.
She knew exactly what she had said.
I walked toward her.
The engagement cake stood on the reception table nearby.
I caught Sabine by the back of her head.
Then shoved her face directly into the top of the cake.
Frosting collapsed.
Flowers scattered.
Cream covered her cheeks, hair, and red dress.
She came upright gasping.
I caught her left hand.
Pulled the engagement ring from her finger.
Dropped it into what remained of the cake.
Then looked straight at her.
May you like
“There won’t be any wedding, because I found your daughter’s mother.”
Sabine’s face went white.
