Chapter 2
Outside the chapel doors and windows everything remained peaceful until the next morning when Callum and his mother opened the door and discovered my sister’s body.
The medical examiner carefully checked every suspicious detail and ruled out homicide.
Everyone calmly accepted this conclusion–everyone except me.
After spending the summer break crying. I enrolled at Princeton University as planned.
Not because I cared about my future, but because it had been my sister’s greatest wish for me.
I abandoned the popular finance major and instead chose the obscure field of criminal investigation.
After completing my undergraduate studies. I continued with a combined master’s and doctoral program. I studied harder than anyone, terrified of missing any knowledge that might help me solve the mystery of my sister’s death.
Eight years later. I returned to Manhattan again.
Much had happened with the Forrester family during my absence. After my sister, Callum had married seven more
wives.
These seven women came from vastly different backgrounds, with varied appearances and personalities.
Yet each bride had died by apparent suicide in the family chapel on her wedding night.
Particularly noteworthy was the eighth wife, married just six months ago–Darla Thompson, a butcher’s daughter from the marketplace. She weighed nearly 300 pounds and was strong enough to knock out a grown man with one punch, with a notoriously volatile temper.
Her father had gambling debts of $500,000, and the Forresters, desperate for a bride, had promised her $20 million in cash and ten commercial properties in Marina City if she survived the night.
Darla tried–but didn’t make it out alive.
Callum had attempted to persuade his family to abandon the chapel ritual, but Mrs. Forrester insisted it was a tradition passed down through generations that could not be broken.
This led to rumors spreading throughout Manhattan–some said the Forrester estate was haunted by malevolent spirits determined to end the family line; others whispered that the Forresters were sacrificing brides to feed otherworldly beings in exchange for their incredible wealth.
Whatever the truth, no family across the country was willing to send their daughter there anymore.
Yet on my second day back in Manhattan, I dressed in a striking crimson dress, applied flawless makeup, and
16:21
They Killed My Sister. Guess Whox Dinner Now?.
Chapter 2
appeared at the Forrester estate’s entrance.
“Tell your mistress I’m willing to be Callum Forrester’s ninth wife.”
News of my request to marry Callum spread through Manhattan like wildfire.
Though Manhattan wasn’t small, gossip traveled faster than any virus.
“I heard Melody Vincent just returned yesterday and is already offering to marry Callum Forrester. Both sisters are just gold–diggers!”
“Poor Mr. Vincent–he used to brag about how brilliant his daughter was, but look at her now, falling at the feet of money just like her sister.”
“Money aside, those Forrester rumors should give anyone pause. Looks like the Vincent family might lose both daughters to that cursed place!”
Everyone in Manhattan branded me as a shallow gold–digger.
The fact that I was a Princeton graduate with a doctorate made the contrast all the more shocking and thrilling to
them.
Inside the Forrester estate, Mrs. Forrester had me brought to her.
“Melody Vincent, do you truly want to marry my son?” she asked, studying me with interest.
“More certain than gold is pure!” I replied with a smile.
“Everyone knows Mr. Forrester is refined, gentle, and friendly–not to mention his net worth recently surpassed ten billion. What reason could I possibly have not to like him?”
Mrs. Forrester responded with a cold laugh.
‘I knew you couldn’t genuinely care for Callum!”
The disgust in her eyes was unmistakable.
But I knew she had no choice.
‘Look, I’m not gonna beat around the bush,” she said.
‘You haven’t forgotten what happened to your sister in our family chapel eight years ago, have you?”
‘During the eight years you’ve been away, a new bride has died in that chapel each year. What makes you think you’ll live longer than they did?”
They fi
