Chapter 2 - Judith Had Tried to Leave Before the Toasts
An hour earlier, the gala had still looked perfect.
The mansion ballroom glowed under chandeliers. The fountain sparkled. The tables were set with silver trays and white peonies. Wealthy donors, family acquaintances, and board members drifted through the room with glasses of champagne in hand.
Maren had spent the evening smiling for people she barely liked.
It was supposed to be a celebration—part charity event, part family-hosted reception after Garrett finalized a major property acquisition on behalf of the Whitlock family trust.
Judith almost hadn’t come.
She had told Maren over the phone that morning, “I don’t belong in rooms like that.”
“You belong wherever I am,” Maren had answered.
Judith came for her daughter, not for the Whitlocks.
And the minute she arrived, Maren could feel Garrett harden.
He had never liked Judith.
He said she was too “provincial,” too opinionated, too eager to remind Maren she deserved better.
The truth was simpler.
Judith saw through him.
By the time dinner began, Judith had already quietly asked if she could leave early.
Maren noticed how tense her mother seemed and asked what was wrong.
Judith had hesitated.
Then said only this:
“I heard something I wasn’t meant to hear.”
Before Maren could press further, Garrett appeared beside them with that polished smile he used in public.
“Everything all right here?”
Judith went silent immediately.
Maren remembered that silence later and wished she had forced the conversation right then.
Because sometime after that, Judith tried to walk through the side of the ballroom toward the foyer.
Garrett followed her.
And minutes later—
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Maren found her mother on the floor.
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