Chapter 2 - The Sister Who Wasn’t Invited
Only twenty minutes earlier, Avery had entered the Chesapeake Bay estate through a service corridor.
Rain still clung to her uniform.
She had driven through the night after receiving a message from their mother’s old number.
COME BEFORE THE VOWS. MADISON LIED ABOUT HARBOR SEVEN.
Their mother had been dead for eleven months.
Avery knew the number should have been disconnected.
But only three people had ever heard the phrase Harbor Seven.
Avery.
Her commanding officer.
And the frightened European man she had pulled from a burning vessel six years earlier.
She had never learned his real name.
At the ballroom entrance, a wedding coordinator stepped in front of her.
“I’m sorry, Lieutenant. Your name isn’t on the guest list.”
“I’m the bride’s sister.”
The woman checked the tablet again.
“Madison Bennett has no living sister.”
Avery felt the first cold warning in her chest.
Then Madison appeared in her jeweled veil.
Her bridal smile vanished.
“What are you doing here?”
“You sent invitations to people who think I’m dead.”
Madison glanced toward the royal guests.
“Lower your voice.”
“Tell me what Harbor Seven means to this family.”
Madison seized Avery’s wrist and pulled her behind a white column.
“You need to leave before anyone sees you.”
“Why?”
“Because for once in your life, this day isn’t about you.”
Avery looked toward Prince Julian.
He was watching them.
So was King Edmund.
May you like
Madison’s fingers tightened painfully around Avery’s wrist.
👉 When Avery refused to leave, Madison whispered the threat that proved her sister’s cruelty had been planned long before the wedding.
