The champagne glass slipped from my hand before I even realized what had happened, bursting across the bridal suite like a gunshot. Beneath my daughter’s white lace, her back was marked from shoulder to waist with dark, swollen lashes.
Elena collapsed into my arms, shaking so violently that the seamstress staggered backward. “Mom, please. Don’t look.”
I held her up as blood thundered in my ears. “Who did this?”
Her answer came out in shattered breaths. “Victor. He said I embarrassed him at dinner. He said if I cancel the wedding, his father will destroy us and have Daniel arrested.”
My son Daniel had recently been accused of stealing two million dollars from the shipping company owned by Victor’s father, billionaire industrialist Conrad Vale. The evidence appeared flawless: transfers from Daniel’s terminal, forged approvals, and money routed into an account under his name. Daniel swore he had been set up. I believed him, but belief meant nothing against the army of attorneys Vale could afford.
