The Heiress Who Refused the Family Key novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Veil Box
The day before her wedding, Cecelia finds a four-day-old Las Vegas marriage record between her fiancé and his best friend under her veil, hears the friend giggle 'oops' on the phone, and decides to walk down the aisle anyway.
The day before my wedding, my maid of honor and I opened my veil box and found my fiancé's marriage certificate.
It wasn't ours.
It was his and Danielle Lorring's.
Danielle was his oldest friend.
She was the one who texted him good morning before I did.
She was the one who wore his scarf to our engagement party and laughed when I asked whose it was.
She had dropped the veil box at our apartment the night before, saying she'd steamed the tulle herself.
Her text sat on my phone: "Don't open it till morning, bad luck! Love you!"
My maid of honor lifted the veil out and held it up to the window.
"Cece," she said. "There's paper under this."
It was a certified copy, folded in thirds, with a raised seal.
The first name on it was Preston's.
The second was Danielle's.
I read it twice, then a third time.
It gave Monday as the date of the marriage, and Nevada as the place.
Monday was four days ago.
Monday, Preston had told me he was at a client retreat in Las Vegas.
Hannah took the paper out of my hand and read it, and her mouth went flat.
"I'm going to kill him," she said.
"Not yet."
I sat down on the closet floor in my robe.
Six years of Danielle walking into every room we were in.
Six years of Preston telling me, "Cece, you're overthinking it."
Six years of dinners that ended early because Danielle had a flat tire, a panic attack, a bad breakup or a problem with a client.
My father even sent her a birthday card every June, because she was basically family to him too.
Everyone said that about Danielle.
I took a picture of the certificate and sent it to Preston.
I typed under it: "What is this?"
Hannah pulled her chair next to mine.
"Do you want me to call a lawyer? I know one. She hates men."
"Wait."
My phone lit up before the three dots could.
It wasn't Preston.
It was Danielle.
I put her on speaker and nodded at Hannah.
Hannah opened the recorder on her own phone and set it on the carpet between us.
"Cece!" Danielle said, breathless and bright. "Oh my God, please don't kill me."
I said nothing.
She giggled.
"We were in Vegas after the client dinner, everybody was drunk, and Preston dared me to do one of those tacky chapel weddings. So I dared him back. You know how competitive he gets."
"And then?" I said.
"And then, oops."
She drew the word out.
Hannah's eyes widened.
"Relax," Danielle said quickly. "It's nothing, it's paperwork. We file in thirty days and it disappears. Preston is crazy about you, you know that."
"Is he?"
"Of course he is. Don't make this a thing the night before. Everyone's already at the Harbor Club for the rehearsal dinner."
"Danielle," I said. "Who dared who, exactly?"
"I don't remember, honestly! It was a blur."
"You remember the thirty days."
A pause.
Then the bright voice again.
"I looked it up. Anyway, I'll see you tonight! Don't cry, you'll wreck your face."
She hung up.
Hannah stopped the recording and looked at me.
"She said 'oops,'" she whispered.
"She did."
"On purpose."
"Yes."
I picked up the veil and the box and carried them to the bed.
Hannah followed.
"Cece. Tell me what we're doing. I'll cancel the Harbor Club. I'll call every guest myself."
I stood there with the tulle hanging from my hands.
If I cancelled, Danielle and Preston would tell everyone I'd had a breakdown.
They'd say it was nerves.
They'd say it was a misunderstanding, a dare, paperwork.
They would stand in a room full of my friends and look sorry.
My phone buzzed.
Preston.
"Cece, I'm so sorry, I should have told you the second it happened. Danielle says the annulment can be signed next month. Please can we talk tonight, before tomorrow, there are 180 people coming. Wear the veil. I love you."
I read it once.
I felt the cold settle, and the shaking stopped.
I set the phone face down on the bed.
"Hannah, cancel nothing."
"What?"
"The florist stays. The band stays. The car stays."
"Cece."
"Everyone they've ever lied to will be in one room, and I'm going to walk down that aisle."
I picked up the certificate and folded it along its creases.
"Then I'm going to read this out loud."
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