Chapter 6 - The Rehearsal Dinner That Became a TrapSerena expected Victor to cancel the wedding.
He did not.
That was what terrified Lily most.
Five days after Ethan came home, invitations remained active. Florists still arrived. The cathedral still confirmed security requirements. Society pages whispered that the Blackwood-Montigue wedding would proceed privately after a “family misunderstanding.”
Lily could not understand it.
She found Victor in the west-wing nursery at midnight, standing beside Ethan’s crib while the baby slept.
“You’re still marrying her?” Lily asked.
Victor did not turn around.
“No.”
“But the wedding—”
“Is bait.”
Lily’s stomach dropped.
Victor looked at her then.
“I need Serena comfortable enough to reveal who stands behind her.”
“She hurt Ethan,” Lily said. “Why does anyone else matter?”
“Because Serena had help. If I cut off one branch, the root remains.”
Lily understood the logic.
She hated it anyway.
“So you’re letting her walk around thinking she might still win?”
“I’m letting her believe what she needs to believe.”
“And what about Ethan?”
Victor’s face softened.
“He will be nowhere near her.”
That was true.
Since returning from the hospital, Ethan had not left the west wing except for medical checks. Two trusted guards stood at every entrance. Mrs. Bell had moved her own chair into the hallway and slept there like a sentry. Dr. Harlow came twice a day.
And Lily stayed.
She told herself it was temporary. That she stayed because Ethan reached for her in his sleep. That she stayed because Victor needed a witness Serena could not buy.
But sometimes, when Victor sat quietly across the nursery while she rocked Ethan, Lily felt something dangerous.
Not romance.
Not yet.
Something worse.
Trust.
The rehearsal dinner took place at the Montigue family estate on Lake Shore Drive.
Victor attended alone.
Or so Serena believed.
In reality, Grace had wired every legal channel she could. Marco placed private security disguised as waiters throughout the estate. Denise Crowley, the child protection investigator, waited in a parked car two blocks away with a police liaison.
Lily watched from the Blackwood mansion through a secure video feed Grace had reluctantly allowed her to see.
“You don’t have to watch,” Grace said.
“Yes,” Lily replied. “I do.”
Serena appeared on screen in champagne satin, radiant beneath chandeliers.
She moved through the room as if she had not spent the week accused of harming a child. She kissed cheeks. She accepted sympathy. She lowered her lashes whenever someone mentioned Ethan.
Then Victor entered.
The room quieted.
Serena’s face transformed.
Warmth.
Relief.
Love.
It was so perfect Lily felt nauseous.
She crossed the ballroom to him.
“Victor,” she whispered, touching his sleeve. “You came.”
He looked down at her hand until she removed it.
“We need to talk.”
Serena’s smile faltered, but only for a second.
“Of course.”
She led him into a private sitting room off the ballroom.
That was her fourth mistake.
The sitting room belonged to her father, Charles Montigue. Grace had predicted Serena would choose it because she felt powerful there.
Marco had predicted the room would be swept for recording devices.
So he did not place one inside.
He placed three in the fireplace vent two days earlier while delivering a wedding gift.
On the screen, the sitting room appeared in grainy but clear video.
Serena poured herself a drink.
“Before you say anything,” she began, “I forgive you.”
Victor’s expression did not change.
Lily almost laughed from shock.
Serena turned, eyes shining.
“You were frightened. Ethan was hurt. I understand why you reacted emotionally. But we cannot allow that woman to destroy us.”
Victor said nothing.
Serena stepped closer.
“She is manipulating you through the child.”
“Is she?”
“Yes. I saw the way she looks at you.”
Victor’s voice remained calm.
“How does she look at me?”
“Like she wants to replace Amelia.”
The temperature in Lily’s body seemed to drop.
Victor tilted his head.
“Interesting.”
Serena realized she had stepped too far.
She softened immediately.
“I’m sorry. I know her name is painful. But that is exactly why you are vulnerable.”
“And Ethan?”
Serena sighed.
“I was trying to help him. He throws tantrums because Lily encourages dependence. Children need boundaries.”
Victor’s hand curled at his side.
“He is fourteen months old.”
“He is a Blackwood,” Serena said sharply. “He cannot grow up weak.”
There it was.
Not the mask.
The truth beneath it.
Victor’s eyes hardened.
“Dragging him by the arm makes him strong?”
Serena froze.
Lily stopped breathing.
For one second, Serena said nothing.
Then she smiled.
“You have no proof I did that.”
Victor leaned slightly forward.
“The baby monitor.”
Her smile vanished.
Victor watched her carefully.
Serena recovered fast, but not fast enough.
“Audio can be manipulated,” she said. “You know that better than anyone.”
“Staff statements.”
“Staff can be pressured.”
“Medical reports.”
“Doctors can be mistaken.”
“My eyes.”
Serena went still.
Victor’s voice lowered.
“I saw you standing over them.”
Serena’s face twisted before she could stop it.
“You saw what she wanted you to see.”
Lily gripped the edge of the desk.
Victor took one step closer.
“Tell me why.”
Serena laughed suddenly.
“Why? Because you were ruining everything.”
Victor waited.
Serena’s voice rose.
“You brought me into that mausoleum and expected me to smile beside a ghost. Amelia’s portrait in the hall. Amelia’s nursery locked away. Amelia’s trust controlling everything. And that child screaming for the nanny every time I entered a room.”
“That child is my son.”
“That child was supposed to become ours.”
“No,” Victor said. “He was supposed to be loved.”
Serena’s eyes flashed.
“Love does not build families like ours. Strategy does.”
Victor stared at her.
“Dominic taught you that?”
Serena’s lips parted.
There it was.
The crack.
She tried to step backward, but Victor saw everything.
“Dominic promised you something,” he said.
Serena recovered with a cold smile.
“Your uncle understands legacy. You hide behind grief and pretend that baby needs lullabies instead of structure.”
“What did he promise you?”
Serena lifted her chin.
“That after the wedding, the household would be corrected.”
“Meaning Lily gone.”
“Obviously.”
“And Ethan?”
Serena’s eyes were ice.
“Raised properly.”
Lily felt Grace’s hand close around her shoulder.
On the screen, Victor’s voice became almost gentle.
“You hurt him to create a record.”
Serena said nothing.
“Say it,” Victor whispered.
Serena smiled again.
“You really should have come home at your usual time.”
The room went silent.
Grace exhaled slowly.
Lily’s eyes filled with tears.
Not because she was shocked.
Because she was not.
Victor looked at Serena for a long moment.
Then he adjusted his cuff.
“That is all I needed.”
Serena frowned.
The sitting room door opened.
Grace entered first with two uniformed officers behind her.
Serena’s face drained of color.
From the ballroom came a wave of whispers as guests realized something was wrong.
Victor stepped aside.
Grace held up her phone.
“Serena Montigue, this conversation was recorded under lawful consent by Mr. Blackwood as a participant. You have also violated an active protective order regarding contact with the minor child through attempted intimidation of a witness.”
Serena looked at Victor.
For the first time, she did not pretend.
Her beauty remained.
Her elegance remained.
But the woman beneath it was all rage.
“You set me up.”
May you like
Victor looked toward the ballroom, where the Montigue guests had begun gathering near the open door.
“No,” he said. “I came home early. You did the rest.”
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