Chapter 1 - The Toast
At my wedding, I witnessed my older brother sliding a small object into my glass. I did not scream or lose my composure because I knew exactly what he was capable of doing. I quietly traded our glasses while he was distracted by the crowd. When he finally raised his glass for a toast, he smirked at me and whispered, “Congratulations, little sister, my surprise for you is coming very soon.” I smiled back at him while he drank the entire glass. Thirty minutes later, everyone in the ballroom saw the truth behind his smug expression.
Thirty minutes later, my brother’s arrogant smile had completely disappeared from his face. Flynn Montgomery stood near the champagne fountain with his hand gripping the edge of the table, his skin turning the pale shade of damp parchment. Around him, the grand ballroom of the Grand Ridge Hotel in Seattle still sparkled with gold chandeliers, white roses, and violin music, but the guests were too busy laughing to notice the first cracks in his performance.
I noticed everything from the second he leaned over my drink during the opening speeches. Flynn had always believed that I was far too gentle to ever suspect him of anything nefarious. He smiled as he blocked my view with his broad shoulder, pulled a small folded packet from his cuff, and tapped the contents into my champagne.
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My stomach turned icy, but something older and stronger than fear took hold of my heart. I laughed at a comment my husband, Bellamy, made and deliberately reached for the wrong glass on the table. Flynn watched my hand with intense focus, but his attention was diverted when a distant relative called his name from across the room. By the time he looked back at the table, I had already successfully switched the glasses.
So when he lifted the tainted champagne to his lips and said, “Congratulations, little sister, my surprise for you is coming very soon,” I smiled at him just like a happy bride should. “I truly cannot wait for it,” I said with a steady voice. He drank every single drop of the liquid without a moment of hesitation.
