Chapter 4
The first answer came from the wedding staff.
Not because anyone had been spying.
Because Ainsley had put instructions in writing.
The wedding planner, Chelsea Moran, sent Galen copies after Rebecca requested all estate-related directives involving Eira.
Most were ordinary.
Flower-girl timing.
Dress fittings.
Photographs.
Childcare.
Then Chelsea found a separate document titled TRANSITION NOTES.
Ainsley had instructed staff to keep Sofia’s photographs out of rehearsal spaces.
No references to Sofia were to appear in speeches.
The florist had been told not to use white peonies because they had been Sofia’s favorite.
Eira’s locket was specifically listed:
REMOVE BEFORE CEREMONY IF POSSIBLE.
Galen read the line twice.
“This wasn’t about what happened yesterday.”
Chelsea shook her head.
“She’d been asking for changes for weeks.”
“Did she say why?”
“She said you wanted a clean beginning.”
Galen almost laughed.
He had never used that phrase.
The cost of challenging the wedding arrangements arrived immediately.
Vendors wanted cancellation payments.
Guests had already flown into Chicago.
The private estate had been booked around the ceremony.
Ainsley’s family accused Galen of humiliating her publicly over a grieving child’s attachment to old belongings.
Nolan called several senior Moretti associates and described Galen as emotionally unstable since Sofia’s death.
That part angered Galen.
Rebecca told him not to respond.
“Facts first.”
So he kept going.
A storage employee located fourteen boxes moved from the estate during the previous four months.
The destination was not a warehouse.
It was an unused guesthouse on the far edge of the Moretti property.
Galen drove there with Margaret.
Inside, they found Sofia’s belongings stacked behind wedding décor.
Nothing had been destroyed.
That should have relieved him.
Instead it made the situation more deliberate.
Someone had catalogued the boxes.
Each label included a date.
Beside several dates were handwritten notes.
EIRA CRIED.
EIRA REFUSED DINNER.
EIRA ASKED FOR SOFIA.
Galen recognized Ainsley’s handwriting.
May you like
She had not simply removed Sofia’s belongings.
She had been recording Eira’s reaction every time she did it.
