A Wedding Night Gone Terribly Wrong novel Chapter 199

Night fell, blanketing the ground in a damp, early winter chill as newly fallen leaves curled at the edges.

Iris sprinted through the courtyard of the Lockwood Mansion, trampling over the dead leaves.

Her gaze locked instantly onto Madeleine, who was sitting regally in the parlor.

Madeleine’s hair was styled in an immaculate updo, her silk dress catching the light as her pale, deep-set features remained perfectly composed, calmly rolling a string of wooden beads through her fingers.

"You actually called the cops on Winifred?" Iris demanded, trembling as she gasped for air.

Her oversized designer sweater slipped off one shoulder.

She had attended a high-profile jewelry launch that afternoon. She was supposed to attend the sponsor's VIP dinner afterward, but a sudden call from the police had practically scared her half to death. She had faked an illness and fled the event immediately.

Madeleine stood up with unhurried elegance.

She glided over and gently pulled Iris's sweater back up over her shoulder.

"I did. What exactly are you panicking about?"

Iris was burning with anxiety, her words rushing out in a frantic blur. "The police contacted me! Do you realize that?"

"And?"

"Are you out of your mind?! You openly reported a fabricated murder plot to the authorities! Do you think you own the police department? Are you just so used to getting your way, or are you just totally ignorant of how the law works?"

If Madeleine brazenly threw Winifred to the wolves, the detectives were obviously going to investigate.

And if they investigated, the truth was bound to come out.

It would take a modern forensic team about five minutes to realize Madeleine had bought a venomous snake to commit murder and was now falsely accusing her target.

To Iris’s educated, modern sensibilities, Madeleine had just done something colossally stupid that was going to drag them all down.

She was furious.

But Madeleine remained a portrait of supreme confidence.

"Calm down. Stop acting hysterical. The police contacting you is nothing but a formality. Whatever statements they take will just be tossed into a pile of useless paperwork."

Iris wasn't buying it. "You have no idea what you're dealing with."

Madeleine gave her a patronizing smile and outlined a fraction of her grand design.

"Everything I do is meticulously planned. Airtight. Even God himself couldn't find a single shred of evidence against me. You've experienced that firsthand, haven't you?"

With Madeleine’s network fully deployed, there was nothing left to worry about.

Winifred had no parents, no power, and zero influence. She was divorced, unemployed, and entirely alone in the world.

When she got locked up, absolutely no one would care that she was missing.

With the charges pinned squarely on her chest, she was trapped, with no one to hear her scream.

When she died, it wouldn't even make the back page of the local paper.

She would simply vanish from the face of the earth, like dust scattering in the wind.

Iris was completely safe.

Madeleine added smoothly, "I've prepared everything down to the letter. We have both the physical evidence and the witnesses fully locked in."

That reminded Iris of their most crucial asset.

"Then you need to go to the hospital and coach Jasmine. Make sure she knows exactly what to say as a backup."

"I will," Madeleine said, tenderly stroking Iris's glamorous, wavy hair, looking at her with a sick, maternal fondness. "You don't need to worry about any of this. I'm handling it. Even if something does go wrong, it's entirely on me. It has nothing to do with you."