Page 5 of The Vows He Buried
I pulled away just as Maddox arrived at my side, his presence a sudden, oppressive weight. The crowd exhaled, assuming this small family detour was over, that order was about to be restored.
“Savannah,” Maddox said, his voice a low growl meant only for me. “What is the meaning of this?” His hand landed on the small of my back, fingers digging into the velvet. It wasn't an embrace;it was a vise. A public display of ownership to counteract my public display of independence.
Before I could answer, Sienna was there, her composure restored, her smile back in place, brighter and more brittle than before.
“There you are, you two!” she chirped, her voice painfully loud. “We were all waiting! You look absolutely breathtaking, Vannah. That color! So bold!” Her eyes raked over me, a silent, vicious critique. “Everyone, isn't she a vision? And now, if the happy couple would join us on the stage, I believe there’s a cake that needs cutting!”
She gestured towards a monstrosity of a cake, a seven-tiered confection that probably cost more than a car. The crowd applauded, eager for the drama to resolve into the familiar script of an anniversary party.
Maddox’s grip tightened, steering me towards the small, elevated stage. I didn't resist. I allowed him to guide me, my body pliant but my spirit unyielding. We stood before the cake, an arsenal of cameras flashing, capturing the image of the “perfect couple.”
Sienna took a microphone, her crimson dress a slash of color against the white stage. “I just want to say a few words,” she began, her voice dripping with manufactured emotion. “I have had the privilege of watching these two incredible people build a life together. To see the way Maddox looks at Savannah…” She paused, casting a look at Maddox that was far too intimate. “…is to understand what true devotion is. And Savannah, my dearest friend, you have been the most gracious, supportive, and loving wife any man could ask for. You complete him.”
The hypocrisy was so thick I could have choked on it. I stood still, my face a mask of serene neutrality, and let the lies wash over me.
“So let’s all raise a glass,” she concluded, “to three years of perfection, and to a lifetime more. To Maddox and Savannah!”
The crowd cheered. Maddox, his jaw tight, played his part. He picked up a champagne flute, his eyes locked on me, a silent, furious command in their depths.Smile. Play along.
I did not smile.
As the applause died down, he leaned in, his mouth close to my ear. “You will regret this,” he breathed, the words a venomous promise.
Then, before I could react, he turned my face towards his and kissed me.
It wasn't a gentle, anniversary kiss. It was a brutal, public claiming. A kiss meant to punish, to dominate, to remind me, and everyone watching, who I belonged to. His mouth was hard, demanding, his hand tangled in my hair, pulling my head back. The crowd roared its approval. The cameras flashed incessantly.
I did not resist. I did not struggle. I simply stood there, my body a statue of marble, my lips cold and unresponsive against his. I let him kiss me, let him pour all his fury and confusion into the act. I gave him nothing back. It was like kissing a beautiful corpse.
He must have felt it. The absolute, chilling lack of response. He pulled back, his breathing ragged, his gray eyes searching myface for any flicker of emotion, any sign of the woman he thought he knew.
He found none.
In the small space between us, with the roar of the crowd still echoing and the flashbulbs still popping, I leaned forward, my lips brushing his ear. I uttered two simple words, my voice a whisper of pure, cold poison.
“Sienna is watching.”
I felt him flinch as if I had physically struck him. The blood drained from his face, leaving him pale beneath his tan. The fury in his eyes was replaced by a sudden, stark horror. He looked past me, towards the crowd, where his mistress stood watching, her fake smile frozen on her face. He looked back at me, his mouth opening slightly, but no words came out. He was speechless. Utterly, completely stunned.
That was my cue.
With a grace I didn't know I possessed, I smoothly detached myself from his grasp. I gave a small, polite nod to the stunned, silent audience, a queen dismissing her court. Then, I turned my back on my husband, on the ridiculous seven-tiered cake, on the entire charade.
I walked off the stage, leaving him standing there alone, bathed in the spotlight, a ghost at his own party.
Chapter 5: The Fall
Walking away from Maddox was like stepping out of a hurricane and into the eerie calm of its eye. The ballroom was a vortex of whispers and stares, but a strange, cold serenity had settled over me. I had detonated the bomb; now, I simply had to walk through the fallout. My destination was the towering, seven-tiered anniversary cake, a monument to a lie I was about to shatter.
This was the second phase of my plan, a small, petty piece of chaos I had arranged with Deedee. It was simple. A waiter, one of the temporary staff hired for the event and loyal to her, had been instructed. When I stood beside the cake, he was to stumble, bumping into me just hard enough to send me off balance. A minor, embarrassing incident, designed to test Maddox’s reflexes. Who would he reach for? The wife he had just publicly brutalized with a kiss, or the mistress watching from the crowd? I already knew the answer. I just wanted the world to see it.
I took my position, a lone soldier in emerald velvet beside the sugary white tower. Across the small stage, Maddox was still frozen, a statue carved from fury and disbelief. Evelyn was moving towards him, her movements sharp and predatory, no doubt to manage the disaster I had created. Sienna had melted back into the crowd, her crimson dress a smear of color in the periphery.
I felt a strange sense of detachment, as if I were watching a play unfold from a great distance. The air crackled with tension. I saw the waiter—a young man with nervous eyes—begin to move fromthe edge of the room, a tray of empty champagne flutes in his hands. He was making his way towards me, his path deliberately clumsy. It was time.
But chaos, I was about to learn, is an unpredictable beast.
Just as my designated waiter began his approach, another server, moving quickly from the opposite direction to clear a path for Evelyn, swerved unexpectedly. He collided not with me, but with Sienna, who had just stepped forward, perhaps to try and smooth things over with Maddox herself.
