Chapter 8 - The First Lie
Mara stared at Bianca.
Dominic appeared beside her almost immediately.
Bianca raised both hands.
“I’m not here to cause trouble.”
“You’re doing poorly,” Dominic said.
Mara touched his arm.
“Let her speak.”
Bianca swallowed.
“The first card wasn’t mine.”
Mara frowned.
“Know your size?”
“Yes.”
“Then whose?”
Bianca looked toward the ballroom.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s convenient.”
“I copied it.”
Mara felt cold.
Bianca continued.
“The first card appeared inside a dress Celeste ordered for Mara. Celeste showed it to me.”
Celeste, who had joined them, went pale.
“That’s true.”
Dominic turned.
“You never mentioned this.”
“I thought Bianca wrote it.”
Bianca shook her head.
“I didn’t. Not that one.”
“Why copy it?” Mara asked.
Bianca looked ashamed.
“Because I saw what it did to you.”
There it was.
The ugliest truth.
Someone had hurt Mara.
Bianca had recognized the wound.
And instead of helping, she pressed it.
“I’m sorry,” Bianca whispered.
Mara looked at her.
“Being sorry doesn’t erase what you chose.”
“I know.”
“Who had access to the first dress?”
Dominic asked.
The boutique.
Celeste.
The delivery service.
And the Serrano house.
Security records were checked again.
The dress had arrived during a family dinner.
Several relatives were present.
So were household staff.
But one name stood out.
A woman Dominic had overlooked because she had belonged to his family’s world for decades.
Vivienne Cross.
His mother’s closest friend.
Vivienne ran a luxury public-relations firm and had advised the Serranos for twenty years.
When Dominic confronted her, she did not deny it.
“I wrote the first card.”
Mara stared.
“Why?”
Vivienne remained composed.
“Because nobody else would tell you.”
Dominic stepped forward.
“Tell her what?”
“That public perception matters.”
Mara almost laughed.
“You put an anonymous insult inside my dress to help me?”
“I expected you to become more disciplined.”
Dominic’s voice hardened.
“You don’t get to discipline my wife.”
Vivienne ignored him.
She looked directly at Mara.
“People are cruel.”
Mara answered, “So you decided to get there first?”
For the first time, Vivienne faltered.
Mara continued.
“That’s what all of you keep calling help. You hurt someone before strangers can hurt them and pretend it’s protection.”
Celeste lowered her eyes.
Even Isabella looked shaken.
Vivienne gathered her purse.
“You’ll understand eventually.”
“No,” Mara said.
Vivienne stopped.
“I understand now.”
Mara stepped closer.
“You were afraid someone might judge me. Bianca was angry at me. Celeste was repeating what had been done to her.”
She shook her head.
“Different reasons. Same result.”
Vivienne left.
Isabella ended their professional relationship the following morning.
Bianca publicly withdrew from the foundation board.
Celeste continued therapy.
And Mara did something nobody expected.
She kept the first card.
Dominic found it weeks later inside her desk.
“Why?”
Mara smiled.
“To remember how little three words should be allowed to control a life.”
He kissed her forehead.
Then she handed him another card.
Blank.
“What’s this?”
“I’m replacing the message.”
She took a pen and wrote:
Know your worth.
Dominic smiled.
“That’s better.”
But Mara wasn’t finished.
The experience had given her an idea.
One that would change the Serrano Foundation.
May you like
And eventually thousands of lives.
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