Chapter 3 - The Broken Mask
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Evelyn Vance froze with her wine glass halfway to her mouth. Lucas looked up, his brow furrowing with sudden intensity. At the far end of the table, Chloe bowed her head, her shoulders trembling violently beneath her pale silk dress.
Teresa’s smile stiffened, turning into a mask of brittle porcelain. A flash of pure, venomous fury flickered behind her eyes before she smoothed it over with maternal pity.
"Danielle, sweetheart," Teresa murmured, her tone dripping with gentle condescension. "You know you shouldn't drink red wine when you’re stressed about your college exams. The bus accident was a tragedy none of us could prevent. I’ve carried the grief of my limitations every single day of my life."
"Your limitations?" I asked, pulling my phone from my purse and setting it squarely on the ivory tablecloth. "You mean the three-warning rule? The terrifying psychic curse that threatened to end your life if you dared to give a fourth warning in a single year?"
"Danielle, stop this immediately," Teresa hissed, the sweet cadence of her voice cracking, exposing the iron rod beneath. "This is a private celebration for Lucas and Chloe. Do not embarrass yourself and this family with your old emotional wounds."
"Why shouldn't we celebrate?" I continued, unlocking the screen. "We’re celebrating Lucas’s bright future. And Chloe’s impending engagement. An engagement orchestrated entirely by your personal visions."
Lucas leaned forward, his voice low, steady, and sharp. "Danielle, what are you talking about?"
"Two months before you asked me out in the biology lab, Lucas," I said, keeping my gaze locked on him, "my mother called me into her bedroom. She looked me in the eye and swore on my father’s memory that she had received a deadly vision. She said if I ever spoke to, dated, or fell in love with a man named Lucas Vance, an unspeakable catastrophe would destroy my life. She made me swear to reject you."
Lucas’s face went completely pale. "What?"
"Danielle is hallucinating!" Teresa snapped, rising from her chair, her chair legs screeching violently against the hardwood floor. "She has been bitter and jealous of her sister for months! She couldn't stand that Lucas chose Chloe over her! Evelyn, Charles, I apologize for this disgraceful outburst. Danielle, come with me to the foyer right now!"
"Don't touch me," I said, standing up to meet her height.
With one deliberate swipe of my index finger, I tapped the audio recording.
I had linked my phone to the estate’s Bluetooth sound system thirty minutes before dinner, using the guest access credentials printed on the menu card.
A static pop echoed through the room’s surround-sound speakers, followed by the crisp, crystal-clear sound of my mother’s voice in our kitchen:
“On the seventh, don't take the elevator in the science building. On the thirteenth, avoid seafood. Before your presentation, check the stage steps carefully. And whatever you do, don't drive on your birthday.”
The dinner guests gasped.
Teresa’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated terror. She lunged forward across the table to grab my phone, but Lucas’s hand shot out, catching her wrist with an iron grip and pinning it to the mahogany surface.
"Let it play," Lucas growled, his voice vibrating with suppressed rage.
The recording continued, echoing with pristine clarity through the grand dining hall:
“Mom? You just gave me four warnings. I thought you said you could only reveal three visions each year.”
“Oh, sweetheart. That's only what I told Danielle. I needed Danielle to believe there was a limit... because otherwise she'd question everything.”
“What about Lucas? You warned Danielle not to date him.”
“Danielle and Lucas would've been very happy together... But you've struggled since you were born, Chloe. If one of my daughters was going to have that kind of man, I wanted it to be you. Danielle can handle disappointment. She's always been stronger than you.”
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Every breath in the room stopped.
Evelyn Vance covered her mouth in absolute horror. Lucas slowly released Teresa’s wrist, looking at the woman he had trusted like a second mother as if she were a venomous snake coiled across the dinner table.
