When Trent left the house and drove off again toward the church, Savannah stood in the alley without moving. Daniel waited beside her in respectful silence.
At last he asked, “Should I take you home, ma’am?”
Savannah turned slowly toward him.
There was dirt on her hem. Sweat at the back of her neck. Betrayal sitting like steel in her chest. But something stronger than heartbreak was already beginning to rise.
“No,” she said. “We are not going home.”
She walked to the front door and knocked.
A moment later Rachel opened it. Her eyes were red from crying. When she saw a woman in a damaged wedding gown standing outside with a chauffeur behind her, she stepped back in confusion.
“Who are you?” she asked.
Savannah met her eyes.
“I,” she said quietly, “am the walking check.”
The next ten minutes changed everything.
There was no screaming.
No clawing jealousy.
No performance.
Only truth.