Chương 13
“Can you help me cancel it?”
I looked at her carefully.
“The wedding?”
“Yes.”
“I can help.”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I mean help me.”
I understood the distinction.
Not do it for her.
Not call everyone.
Not clean the mess while she hid upstairs.
“Tell me what you need.”
She took a breath.
“I need the planner’s number.”
“I have it.”
“I need to call the vendors myself.”
“Yes.”
“And the guests.”
“Yes.”
Her mouth trembled.
“That’s going to be horrible.”
“Yes.”
She looked irritated.
“You could lie a little.”
“I’m trying something new.”
That earned another tiny laugh.
Then her phone rang again.
Greg.
She looked at the screen for several seconds.
Finally she answered.
“Hi.”
His voice was loud enough that I heard it without speakerphone.
“Where are you?”
“At Mom’s.”
“You need to come outside.”
“No.”
A pause.
“What do you mean, no?”
“I mean I’m staying here.”
“Sam, we need to talk.”
“We are talking.”
“Not with her listening.”
Samantha looked at me.
Then she stood and walked toward the pantry doorway, giving herself a few feet of privacy without leaving the room.
“Greg, I saw the North Creek documents.”
Silence.
Then his voice dropped.
“Your mother is poisoning you against me.”
“No.”
“She has been waiting for this.”
“For what?”
“A reason to break us up.”
Samantha closed her eyes.
“I didn’t know about the company.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After the wedding.”
“Why after?”
“Because you were stressed.”
She looked at me, and something in her expression changed.
Not belief.
Recognition.
“How much money did you put into it?”
“That isn’t important.”
“It is to me.”
“Sam.”
“How much?”
Another silence.
“About one hundred fifty.”
“Thousand?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened.
“Where did you get one hundred fifty thousand dollars?”
Greg said nothing.
Samantha’s face became utterly still.
“Greg.”
“It came from available funds.”
“What available funds?”
He exhaled sharply.
“Can we not do accounting over the phone?”
“What money?”
“Samantha.”
Her voice changed.
I had never heard it quite like that.
Low.
Flat.
“No.”
She tightened her grip on the phone.
“You tell me right now whose money you invested.”
Greg said something too soft for me to hear.
Samantha stared at the floor.
Then she whispered, “You did what?”
Samantha’s face drained of color so quickly that I stood before I knew I was moving.
“What did he say?”
She held up one hand.
Not to silence me.
To steady herself.
On the phone, Greg was talking fast now.
I could hear the rhythm but not the words.
“No,” Samantha said.
“No, that is not what I asked.”
She pressed the phone harder against her ear.
“How much?”
Another burst of his voice.
Her eyes closed.
“All of it?”
I looked at Michael’s phone on the table.
The call with him was still connected.
He had gone completely silent.
Samantha opened her eyes again.
“Whose account?”
Greg answered.
Her free hand came up to cover her mouth.
I felt something cold settle under my ribs.
“Sam.”
She looked at me.
Tears were already gathering.
“It was the wedding account.”
For a second, I did not understand.
Then I did.
The separate checking account I had opened ten months earlier.
The one I funded for wedding expenses so Samantha would not have to ask me for every deposit.
I had placed two hundred thousand dollars in it initially.
Later I added more as contracts grew.
Samantha had access.
Greg had access because she asked me to include him.
“How much did he take?”
Samantha swallowed.
“One hundred fifty thousand.”
The room seemed to tilt without moving.
“From the wedding account?”
She nodded.
I looked toward the phone on the table.
Michael finally spoke.
“Do not discuss this further with him.”
Greg heard something through Samantha’s phone.
“Who is that?”
She stared at the floor.
“Michael.”
“What?”
“You’re on speaker in the kitchen.”
Samantha had not actually put him on speaker, but she no longer seemed concerned with precision.
Greg’s voice sharpened loud enough that I heard every word.
“Hang up.”
She did not.
“Sam, hang up the phone.”
“No.”
“We need to talk privately.”
“You took one hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
“I moved money into an investment for us.”
“You took it.”
“It was available.”
“It wasn’t yours.”
“We were getting married.”
Her face twisted.
“That is not an answer.”
“It was going to come back.”
“When?”
“After the raise.”
“What raise?”
“The next financing round.”
Her laugh was thin and disbelieving.
“So you put wedding money into your company because you thought other investors would come in later?”
“That is not how it works.”
“Then explain how it works.”
Greg exhaled hard.
“I bought us equity.”
“With my mother’s money.”
“With money intended for our future.”
I felt my jaw tighten.
Samantha looked at me once, then away.
“No.”
Her voice dropped.
“That was money for vendors.”
“You had enough coverage.”
“Because Mom was paying.”
“Exactly.”
The word hung there.
Exactly.
As if my money had become a resource category rather than something belonging to a person.
Samantha went very still.
“So you knew she would keep covering costs.”
“I knew she had the ability.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Greg’s voice softened.
“Sam, listen to me.”
“I am listening.”
“We were building something bigger.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“I was going to.”
“After the wedding.”
“Yes.”
“After I signed those papers.”
His silence was answer enough.
Samantha’s lower lip trembled.
“What were you planning to tell me?”
“Everything.”
“When?”
“Once things were secure.”
“What does secure mean?”
“Once your mother couldn’t disrupt it over an emotional reaction.”
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because the audacity had become physically difficult to absorb.
Samantha stared at me.
This time there was no uncertainty in her face.
Only shame.
Greg continued.
“You see what she’s doing right now.”
I said nothing.
“She’s blowing up your wedding because you finally set one boundary.”
May you like
Samantha’s expression changed.
It was subtle.
