1: 1
Half an hour before my cousin's wedding was set to begin, my aunt's panicked scream tore through the banquet hall.
"The gold set! I kept the whole set of gold jewelry in my bag, and now it's gone!"
"That's three hundred grams! At today's gold prices, that's three hundred thousand dollars!"
Everyone jumped, and the whole crowd started hunting for it.
In the middle of the chaos, my aunt suddenly seized my wrist.
"You took it, I'm sure of it. Everyone we invited today is rich or important. Only a broke little nobody like you would have sticky fingers!"
"Hand it over right now, or I'm calling the police!"
I opened my mouth to explain, and she cracked her hand across my face.
"You little slut! Still won't admit it? Do you even know what three hundred thousand dollars looks like?"
"Are you even worth that kind of money? Three hundred thousand would be more than enough to buy your worthless life!"
Under the disgusted stares of every guest in the room, I pulled out my phone.
"Hello, yes. I'd like to turn myself in."
"I'm a thief. I just stole gold jewelry worth three hundred thousand dollars."
1
But my cousin's groom, Keith Butler, shoved his way out of the crowd, snatched the phone from my hand, and hung up.
"You're Tabitha's cousin. We're all one family here. None of us wants this to turn ugly."
"Just give the jewelry back and we'll let it go. We won't hold you responsible."
My cousin, Tabitha Fox, stood beside Keith and slid her arm through his.
"See that? Keith's already being more than generous with you."
"A minute ago you were trying to drive a wedge between me and Keith. Pathetic. Go take a good look at yourself in the mirror and see what you really are."
I looked coldly at the two of them and thought back to what had happened earlier.
Half an hour ago, I'd overheard Keith talking with his parents outside the lounge, by accident.
"Don't worry, son. No one's going to figure out this gold set is fake."
"After the bride's family gets a look at it, I'll find a chance to hide it, and then we'll say it was stolen."
"They won't know who took it anyway, and it has nothing to do with our family, so they won't have the nerve to come after us."
I'd hurried to tell Tabitha, but she'd only looked at me with contempt.
"Doreen Summers, you're just green with envy because I landed myself a rich husband, aren't you?"
"Let me tell you, jealousy won't get you anywhere. A broke little nobody like you only deserves some guy who picks through trash."
When I didn't answer, Tabitha jabbed a manicured finger straight at my face.
"You've got some nerve, Doreen Summers. A minute ago I thought you were just jealous, but it turns out you had your eye on my gold, didn't you?"
"I'm warning you, you'd better hand it over fast, or don't blame me for not being nice about it!"
A flicker of guilt crossed Keith's face.
He stepped forward and pulled Tabitha into his arms.
"That's enough, Tabitha. Doreen's still your cousin. As long as she gives it back, we'll drop it."
"Today's our big day. Don't let someone like her ruin our mood."
My aunt dropped her earlier viciousness in an instant and turned to Keith with a face full of smiles.
"Oh, look at my new son-in-law. Not only rich and capable, but so kind and generous too. Such good breeding."
"Not like some people, poor and broke and light-fingered on top of it, doing something this shameful."
"This is my son-in-law giving you a way out. Now hand the jewelry over! Don't throw a good turn back in our faces!"
I watched the whole family sing the same tune in front of me, and it was almost funny.
"You don't need to give me any way out. I'm calling the police right now."
The moment she heard I still wanted to call the police, Tabitha lost all control of her temper and pointed at me, screaming.
"Doreen Summers, so I really did give you too much credit, is that it? I think you just came here to wreck my wedding on purpose!"
"You bitch, I think you just can't stand to see me happy!"
The relatives in the room all chimed in one after another.
"I remember Doreen was such a good girl when she was little. How could she do something like this? Tabitha's her cousin, after all. If she pulls this, how are any of us supposed to stay on good terms?"
"Who knows? Maybe she's just jealous. I hear the groom's a top executive at a big company in Seaford City, makes a fortune every year. Tabitha's marrying into money now, so it's no surprise Doreen can't get over it."
"Or maybe not. Maybe she just did it for the money. Gold prices are pretty high these days, and I hear that set was over three hundred grams. That's worth a fair bit."
While everyone buzzed and gossiped, my mother had just finished cleaning up the mess outside and walked into the banquet hall.
Seeing me hemmed in at the center of the crowd, her face went pale with alarm, and she squeezed her way to my side.
"Ava Summers, what's going on here?"
"Isn't the wedding about to start? Why is everyone crowded around my Doreen?"
