Chapter 2 - The Name That Froze the Room
"Maya?" Martha repeated, the name turning to ash on her tongue. "Damien, Maya has been dead for five years."
Maya was Damien’s younger sister, Martha’s firstborn daughter. She had perished in a devastating hit-and-run accident on a rainy highway just outside of Seattle. The driver was never caught. The tragedy had fractured their family, sending Damien into years of dark depression before he finally seemed to find the light again.
"She didn't just die, Mother," Damien snarled, his voice trembling with a terrifying mix of grief and rage. He stood up, pacing the floor of the ruined bridal suite. "She was run off the road. And for five years, the police gave us nothing. But I didn't stop looking. I hired private investigators. I spent thousands tracking down the silver sedan that clipped her."
Martha clutched the doorframe, her heart pounding against her ribs. "What does this have to do with Elise?"
Damien walked over to his discarded tuxedo jacket, reaching into the inner pocket. He pulled out a folded, glossy photograph and shoved it into his mother’s trembling hands. It was a traffic camera snapshot, grainy but undeniable. It showed a young woman behind the wheel of a damaged silver sedan, her face illuminated by a streetlamp.
May you like
The face belonged to Elise.
"She killed my sister," Damien whispered, his eyes entirely devoid of humanity. "She left Maya to bleed out in the dirt. And I married her just so I could destroy her life from the inside out."
