Chapter 1 - Two Days After the Wedding
Forty-eight hours earlier, Emily Carter had believed she was beginning the happiest chapter of her life.
The wedding had been small but elegant, held beneath white oak trees behind the suburban home she had purchased three years earlier. She had saved for the down payment while working as a senior project manager for an engineering company.
Every room in the house represented something she had earned.
Daniel had moved in six months before the wedding. At first, he had treated the home with respect. He fixed loose cabinet handles, watered the garden, and cooked dinner when Emily worked late.
He often told her how proud he was of her.
“You built all of this by yourself,” he had said one evening. “I’m lucky you chose me.”
His sister, Vanessa, behaved differently.
She complained that the guest room was too small and suggested Emily replace the furniture. She opened the refrigerator without asking, borrowed Emily’s clothes, and left empty coffee cups around the living room.
Daniel always defended her.
“She’s had a difficult year,” he would say. “Try to be patient.”
Emily tried.
Vanessa had lost her apartment after refusing to renew her lease. Daniel asked whether she could stay with them for three nights after the wedding.
Emily reluctantly agreed.
She assumed Vanessa would spend most of the time searching for a new place.
Instead, Vanessa arrived with four suitcases, two boxes, and a television.
When Emily questioned her, Daniel smiled.
“She likes to be prepared.”
It was the first answer that made Emily uncomfortable.
The second came on the morning after the wedding.
Daniel sat at the dining table while Emily prepared coffee.
“My sister likes eggs before nine,” he said.
May you like
Emily laughed, believing he was joking.
Daniel did not laugh with her.
