Chapter 1
I never imagined my wedding day would become the day I watched someone humiliate my mother in front of two hundred people.
But that's exactly what happened.
One moment, I was standing beside the wedding cake, smiling at guests and trying to remember where I'd left my bouquet.
The next, I heard my mother scream.
Not a frightened little gasp.
A real scream.
The kind that makes your blood turn cold.
I spun around.
And what I saw made me forget everything else.
Vanessa was standing behind my sixty-eight-year-old mother, holding a pair of silver scissors.
My mother, Evelyn, was sitting at a reception table in her beautiful burgundy dress.
Her hands were raised toward her head.
And a thick section of her short gray hair was falling onto the white tablecloth.
Vanessa was laughing.
Actually laughing.
"Oh, come on, Evelyn!" she said. "It's just hair!"
My mother covered her face.
I saw tears slipping between her fingers.
For one terrible second, I couldn't move.
Then I screamed.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY MOM?!"
Every conversation in the ballroom stopped.
The music kept playing for another few seconds before someone finally turned it off.
Vanessa turned toward me.
She was wearing the blush-pink bridesmaid dress I'd paid for.
Her impossibly long black hair hung past her waist.
And she was smiling.
"Nia, relax."
I hurried toward her.
My wedding dress dragged across the polished floor.
"What did you do?"
Vanessa lifted the severed gray hair between two fingers.
Then she smirked.
"Hair grows back."
I stared at the hair.
My mother had spent an hour getting ready that morning.
She'd been so excited about her appearance.
She'd stood in front of the mirror, adjusting her little pearl earrings.
"Nia, do I look all right?"
I'd hugged her.
"Mom, you look beautiful."
She'd smiled like a little girl.
Now her hair was uneven, her makeup was ruined, and she was crying in front of everyone.
I turned toward Vanessa.
"Why would you do that?"
She shrugged.
"She wouldn't stop bothering me."
My heart pounded.
"Bothering you how?"
"She kept asking questions."
"What questions?"
Vanessa rolled her eyes.
"Does it matter?"
I looked at my mother.
"Mom?"
She couldn't answer.
Her shoulders were shaking.
Vanessa laughed again.
"Oh, please. She's acting like I stabbed her."
Something inside me snapped.
The scissors were lying on the table.
I grabbed them.
Vanessa's smile disappeared.
"Nia, what are you doing?"
I stepped forward.
She tried to move away.
I caught a thick section of her long hair and held it firmly.
"Nia!"
One sharp movement.
SNIP.
A large section of Vanessa's hair fell into my hand.
Her scream echoed through the ballroom.
"MY HAIR!"
She grabbed the uneven ends.
I dropped the severed hair onto the table beside my mother's.
Then I looked straight into Vanessa's eyes.
"Then yours can grow back too."
Guests gasped.
Someone dropped a glass.
Vanessa stared at the hair, shaking with rage.
"You crazy—"
"Don't finish that sentence."
I still had the scissors in my hand.
I placed them on the table and stepped away.
I wasn't going to touch her again.
But I wasn't going to apologize either.
That's when Marcus came rushing toward us.
My groom.
The man I'd planned to spend the rest of my life with.
He was wearing the black tuxedo we'd chosen together.
His bow tie was slightly crooked.
He looked from Vanessa to the hair scattered across the table.
Then he turned to me.
"What the hell happened?"
I opened my mouth.
Before I could speak, Vanessa rushed into his arms.
"Marcus! Look what she did to me!"
He caught her shoulders.
"Vanessa?"
"She attacked me!"
I stared at them.
"Are you serious?"
Vanessa began sobbing dramatically.
"She grabbed my hair and cut it!"
Marcus looked at me with disbelief.
"Nia, what is wrong with you?"
I pointed toward my mother.
"She cut Mom's hair first!"
Marcus barely glanced at Evelyn.
Instead, he looked at the guests watching us.
Then he raised his voice.
"You ruined our wedding over HAIR?"
For a moment, everything became strangely quiet.
I stared at the man I'd just promised to love.
He knew how much my mother meant to me.
He knew she'd raised me alone after my father died.
He knew she was the reason I had survived some of the hardest years of my life.
Yet he was standing there defending Vanessa.
"Over hair?" I repeated.
Marcus threw his hands up.
"Yes, Nia! Look around!"
I stepped toward my mother.
She was still crying.
I put one arm around her shoulders.
"No," I said.
My voice was shaking.
"SHE ruined it when she humiliated my mother."
Vanessa pointed at me.
"You're making me look like some monster!"
I stared at her.
"You picked up scissors and cut an elderly woman's hair while she begged you to stop."
Vanessa's expression changed.
Just slightly.
Then she laughed.
"That's not what happened."
I looked at Marcus.
"Ask her why she did it."
He rubbed his forehead.
"Can we handle this privately?"
"Privately?"
I gestured toward the guests.
"She humiliated my mother publicly."
"Nia, please."
"No. You're going to listen."
Marcus stepped closer.
"You're embarrassing us."
I looked at him.
"Us?"
He didn't answer.
I suddenly felt the weight of my wedding ring.
Less than two hours earlier, he'd placed it on my finger.
Now he was treating my mother's humiliation like an inconvenience.
I turned toward Evelyn.
"Mom, are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
Then she whispered something.
"Nia."
I leaned closer.
"What is it?"
Her fingers trembled as she reached into her small burgundy handbag.
She pulled out her phone.
I saw the screen was already open to a recording.
"Mom?"
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I recorded what Vanessa said before she cut my hair."
Vanessa froze.
Her expression went completely white.
"What?" she whispered.
Marcus looked toward her.
"Vanessa?"
My mother held the phone tighter.
"She didn't know I was recording."
Vanessa took a step forward.
"Give me that."
I moved between them.
"Don't touch my mother."
Marcus stared at Vanessa.
"What did you say?"
She shook her head.
"Nothing. She's lying."
My mother looked at me.
Her voice broke.
"I wanted you to hear it yourself."
She pressed play.
For a moment, there was only the sound of people talking in the background.
Then Vanessa's voice came through.
Clear.
Cold.
Cruel.
"After I ruin her mother, the bride will—"
Vanessa suddenly lunged toward the phone.
"TURN THAT OFF!"
I grabbed my mother's arm and pulled her back.
Marcus caught Vanessa before she reached us.
The recording continued playing.
And as I watched the terror spreading across Vanessa's face, I realized something horrifying.
This wasn't a cruel joke.
It wasn't an impulsive act.
May you like
Vanessa had planned what happened to my mother.
And whatever she intended to do next was hidden in the rest of that recording.
