Too Late, Mr. Sanchez

The next morning, Sarah got an anonymous text: “Want it back? Meet me in the freezer.”

Attached was a photo of a bracelet. A bracelet she knew all too well. Her grandmother's keepsake.

She'd guessed right. Jocelyn really did have it.

Sarah stood up. She knew it was a trap, and she went anyway. Not because she was a fool, but because she needed Jocelyn to take the bait.

Sure enough, the moment she stepped into the walk-in freezer, the door slammed shut behind her.

The cold seeped in through every seam. Sarah wrapped her arms tight around herself. She'd told the assistant before coming in. Half an hour more, and he'd bring people to open the freezer.

What she didn't expect was that the one who came wasn't the assistant. It was Ralph, his face taut with panic.

She heard him calling her name over and over, a raw, frantic edge in his voice she'd never heard before.

Ralph held her close to warm her, his fingers shaking worse than hers.

“She tricked you into coming here, didn't she?”

Sarah's lips were a bruised purple. She couldn't speak.

“I've already punished her.” His voice dropped low. “Jocelyn went too far. I locked her in the storeroom. She's terrified, Sarah. Just forgive her this once, all right?”

Sarah's frozen lashes trembled. So his panic hadn't been for her at all. It was fear that Jocelyn might be punished for this.

She slowly pushed Ralph away, dug her phone out from under the pillow, and pressed three keys.

“Hello, I need to report a crime.”

Ralph froze. “What are you doing?”

Sarah spoke each word slowly and clearly. “Someone deliberately hurt me and locked me in a freezer. I have her IP address.”

She hung up and watched the color drain from Ralph's face, inch by inch.

“Sarah…”

“Ralph.” She let out a soft laugh. “When you do something wrong, you should be punished.”

Jocelyn was still crying when the police took her away. “I was just messing around with my sister!”

Ralph planted himself in the doorway, shielding Jocelyn, but the evidence was airtight. He couldn't stop them.

The next day, to Sarah's surprise, Jocelyn was released. Ralph had hired the best lawyer, had the whole thing reclassified as a family dispute, and with Jocelyn being pregnant, she walked free that same day.

That night, Jocelyn slit her wrist in the bathroom. Not deep, just enough to make the blood look terrifying.

She threw herself into Ralph's arms, her face ghost-white. “The holding cell was so dark, I was so scared. I was only playing a joke on my sister. How could she be so cruel! I'd be better off dead!”

And in the middle of Jocelyn's sobbing, Ralph made his decision.

He looked at Sarah, his expression grave. “Jocelyn's in a fragile state. Two days from now, I want to hold a wedding for her, to help her steady herself.”

“Don't worry, Sarah. I won't register the marriage with her. I just want to make her happy. After all, what you did really was a bit too much.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Sarah's voice was flat.

“I want you to be the bridesmaid at the wedding, to give Jocelyn a good showing. Let everyone see that Mrs. Sanchez herself attended in person, proof that we're not having an affair, that Jocelyn isn't the other woman.”

The hard lines of Ralph's face softened.

“Sarah, you have to help her.”

“You're insane.” A thin ache pricked at Sarah's chest. She couldn't understand it, no matter how she tried, how Ralph could say something like this.

Once she had her emotions under control, Sarah nodded. “Fine.”

She was planning to leave anyway.

Ralph froze. He'd expected Sarah to make a scene, to refuse. He hadn't expected her to agree so readily.

So readily that an uneasiness he couldn't name rose up in him. But the urge to comfort Jocelyn quickly pushed it back down.

Two days later, the wedding went ahead as scheduled. Once the ceremony was over, Sarah and Jocelyn sat together in the dressing room, removing their makeup.

Jocelyn's smile was smug and taunting. “So, sister, how does it feel?”

Sarah had her back to her. Before she could get a word out, she heard a scream.

“Ah!”

The door burst open. A hand clamped over Sarah's mouth and nose, and she blacked out within moments.