Chương 6
Do not play sexual content.
Corporate counsel present.
I handed the phone back.
“Show the first image.”
The screen lit.
It was a still from the recording, captured from the moment I had opened the bedroom door.
Nothing explicit was visible.
Daniel was in bed.
My mother was beside him.
My own figure appeared in the doorway.
A collective sound moved through the guests.
Not a gasp exactly.
Something lower.
Confusion turning into recognition.
Daniel covered his mouth.
My mother stood again.
“This is disgusting.”
The absurdity of it was almost perfect.
I looked at her.
“Yes.”
She pointed at the screen.
“You recorded me without my consent.”
Miriam started forward, but I lifted one hand.
“The camera was installed in my bridal suite after property disappeared from rooms I controlled.”
“You were spying on me.”
“I forgot it existed.”
“You expect people to believe that?”
“No.”
I looked at the guests.
“I expect people to decide what they believe for themselves.”
Daniel reached for the microphone.
I moved it away.
“Don’t.”
“Claire, please.”
His voice had changed.
The public confidence was gone.
“This is not what it looks like.”
A man somewhere behind us said, “Jesus Christ.”
A woman shushed him.
I nodded to the technician.
The image disappeared.
Then audio played.
My mother’s voice came through the pavilion speakers with terrible clarity.
He was never really yours.
A pause followed.
Then Daniel’s voice.
This was a mistake.
Then Vivian laughing.
No, darling.
Getting caught was the mistake.
I cut the audio there.
Silence followed.
Not cinematic silence.
Real silence.
A chair creaked.
Someone coughed.
A child asked his mother what had happened.
From the back row, a phone began ringing and rang far too long before its owner silenced it.
Daniel looked at me.
“You planned this.”
“Since last night.”
“You told me the wedding was happening.”
“It did.”
His mouth opened.
He looked toward the guests.
People were staring at him now, and he seemed unable to decide whether to defend himself to me or to them.
My mother solved the problem for him.
“This is revenge.”
She stood in the aisle.
“She is humiliating two families because she was hurt.”
Elena muttered, “Oh, screw you.”
Her voice carried farther than she intended.
A few guests turned.
Vivian ignored her.
“She has always been vindictive.”
I felt the old instinct rise inside me.
Explain yourself.
Prove her wrong.
Be reasonable enough that nobody can accuse you of being difficult.
For once, I let the accusation remain where she had put it.
“I am hurt,” I said.
Vivian blinked.
“Yes.”
I looked around at the guests.
“I’m also not getting married.”
The officiant quietly closed his book.
That simple movement struck me harder than the recording had.
The ceremony was over.
Daniel saw it too.
He grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
Elena moved before I did.
She slapped his hand away.
“Do not touch her.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I wasn’t going to hurt her.”
“You already did.”
“Stay out of this.”
“Gladly, once you stop grabbing people.”
Miriam reached us.
“Daniel.”
He turned toward her.
She spoke quietly enough that only those nearest could hear.
“You need to step away from Claire.”
He did.
My mother pushed through the front row.
“What exactly are you doing here?”
“Miriam is my attorney.”
“She is Daniel’s attorney too.”
“No,” Miriam said.
“I handled formation work for the company years ago through separate counsel arrangements, and I represent Claire and the Rowe trust matters now.”
Daniel went very still.
“Why are we talking about the trust?”
Miriam looked at me.
I nodded.
She faced him.
“Because an emergency meeting of the Mercer Dynamics board is underway in the estate conference room.”
A man in the third row stood.
I recognized Peter Sloan, one of Daniel’s independent directors.
He did not look at me.
He looked at Daniel.
Daniel’s expression collapsed into something more naked than shame.
“You called a board meeting during my wedding?”
Peter adjusted his glasses.
“Your wedding appears to be over.”
Several guests looked away.
Peter continued.
“And this is not about your personal conduct by itself.”
Daniel stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“It means we have questions about company funds.”
My attention snapped toward Miriam.
That was not part of the plan.
She met my eyes.
There was warning in hers.
Daniel laughed once.
“What company funds?”
Peter did not answer.
Vivian turned toward me.
“What have you done?”
“I don’t know yet.”
For once, that was completely true.
Miriam leaned close.
“There are transactions we need to discuss privately.”
Daniel heard her.
“What transactions?”
Peter came closer.
“Daniel, we need you in the conference room.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Then the meeting proceeds without you.”
“You can’t do that.”
“We can.”
Daniel looked at the guests again.
His father, seated near the aisle, had not moved since the recording.
Thomas Mercer was seventy-two and still carried himself like the orthopedic surgeon he had been before retirement.
He looked at his son with an expression I could not read.
“Dad.”
Thomas lowered his eyes.
Daniel’s face tightened.
He turned toward me.
“Did you go through company accounts?”
“No.”
“Then what is this?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
The words hit an old nerve.
I stepped closer.
“Careful.”
He stopped.
For a second, I wanted him to keep going.
I wanted him angry enough to make everything easy.
Instead, he looked frightened.
“I can explain whatever they found.”
Peter said, “Then come explain it.”
Daniel removed his boutonniere and dropped it on the ground.
He walked toward the estate with Peter beside him.
Several guests raised their phones.
“Please don’t,” I said into the microphone.
A few lowered them.
Others did not.
“There are employees here whose jobs may be affected by what happens next.”
That changed the mood.
People stopped treating the pavilion like a scandal unfolding for their benefit.
Not everyone.
But enough.
May you like
My mother moved close to me.
Her voice dropped.
