Chapter Six
The Night Before
It was a coincidence, nothing more. Cassie hadn’t meant to open the drawer in Damien’s home office.
She was looking for spare batteries for the camera she planned to bring to their vow renewal location scout.
But instead, she found an old iPhone. Dusty.
Untouched. The kind people forgot about until it blinked back to life with a jolt of power.
She should have left it alone but something made her pause.
Curiosity or instinct.
She plugged it into the charger, her heart thumping harder with every passing second. The Sterling crest shimmered faintly on the old lock screen, and surprisingly, it opened without a passcode.
Cassie tapped into the photos app. Scrolled. Mostly old boardroom pictures. Conferences. Some of her. Them together. Her breath caught when she saw one dated the night before their wedding. It started with laughter.
Damien’s voice, slurred but distinct. “You’re really wearing white to my hotel room, Kelly?”
Her sister’s voice was low, teasing. “White is the color of victory, isn’t it?”
The camera wobbled slightly propped somewhere. Forgotten. Or maybe deliberately recorded. Cassie stared, transfixed, horror blooming as she realized what she was watching. Kelly leaned in, wrapping her arms around Damien from behind as he poured another drink.
“You shouldn’t be here,” he muttered, but he didn’t stop her.
She kissed the corner of his jaw. “That never stopped you before.”
“I’m marrying your sister tomorrow.”
“You don’t love her like you love me.”
Silence stretched.
Then, a whisper.
“No. I don’t.”
Kelly kissed him. Slow. Deep. Hungry. He didn’t pull away. He dropped the glass instead, and it shattered against the floor.
Cassie couldn’t breathe.
On screen, Damien spun Kelly around and lifted her onto the edge of the hotel table. Her white dress hitched up, her head tilted back as he kissed down her throat.
“I always wanted you,” he growled. “You knew that.”
“You’re drunk,” she purred.
“You came anyway.”
“I always come when it counts.”
The moan that followed snapped something inside Cassie’s chest. Their bodies tangled, urgent and shameless.
He stripped her dress down in one hard pull.
Her fingers clawed at his belt. His mouth was on her collarbone, her breasts, then lower.
Their sounds filled the room, a symphony of betrayal recorded in high definition.
When they fell together on the hotel bed, the video tilted, catching only the rhythm of movement and the raw groans that accompanied it. Kelly’s laughter. Damien’s growls.
Cassie watched every second.
Every.
Single.
Second.
Until the screen went black.
She sat in silence for a long time after.
The only sound in the penthouse was the distant hum of the city below and the dull roar of blood rushing through her ears.
Her hands were shaking, but her face remained expressionless.
She didn’t scream. Didn’t cry. She simply stood, walked to the bar, and poured herself a glass of whisky.
Her wedding had been beautiful. Dreamlike. A rooftop ceremony beneath a canopy of orchids. Her father walked her down the aisle, her mother teared up. Damien had smiled at her like she was his salvation.
All lies.
All lies dressed in white and sealed with a kiss still tainted by Kelly’s lipstick.
Cassie sipped the whisky, letting it burn all the way down.
Then she reached for her phone. She texted Delia “Start compiling everything. Every timeline. Every lie.” And then Harper “You were right. It was her. The night before the wedding.” A second later, “I need you. Now.”
Her hands were steady as she placed the old phone back into the drawer.
She would keep the video. Not to confront them.
But when the time came, they wouldn’t be able to deny it.
Her husband. Her sister. Her whole life built on a rotting foundation.
Cassie King Sterling had been the perfect wife. Now she would become the perfect storm.