Chapter 14 - The Wedding Photos Came Down
Amelia returned to the villa once more.
Not to stay.
To retrieve the last of her belongings.
The glass-walled room looked pristine again.
The broken wedding photograph had been replaced.
That surprised her.
Same image.
Amelia and Preston smiling beneath white roses.
Veronica had placed it back on the stand as though replacing glass could restore meaning.
Amelia lifted it.
For several seconds, she stared at herself in the photograph.
Happy.
Tired.
Trusting.
Not foolish.
That distinction mattered.
People often turn betrayal backward.
I should have known.
I was stupid.
The signs were obvious.
Some signs were visible.
Others only became obvious after the pattern emerged.
Amelia refused to punish the woman in the photograph for lacking information she had not yet been given.
She removed the picture from the frame.
Folded nothing.
Destroyed nothing.
She placed it inside her own box.
Grace raised an eyebrow.
“You’re keeping it?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because that day happened.”
The happiness was real even if the promises around it failed.
Amelia would not let Preston or Veronica rewrite her past any more than she would let them control her future.
Near the garden doors stood one final suitcase.
The original honeymoon luggage.
Her luggage.
The clothes she chose for Italy.
Someone had brought it down from upstairs.
Amelia opened it.
Swimsuit.
Bright dresses.
Sketchbook.
Laptop.
Running shoes.
Everything that looked like her.
She laughed softly.
“What?” Grace asked.
“This is the bag I actually packed.”
Grace smiled.
“Where are you taking it?”
Amelia looked through the glass at the garden.
“Home.”
Not Lake Briar.
Not Italy.
Not the villa.
May you like
Home had become a smaller apartment fifteen minutes from her studio.
And for the first time, that sounded more luxurious than the mansion.
