Chương 11
“What did she ask you to cover?”
“Groomsmen gifts.”
“Okay.”
“Transportation for some people.”
“Okay.”
“My suit.”
“Okay.”
“Part of the honeymoon.”
Michael frowned.
“Lauren told us the honeymoon was paid.”
“It is.”
“By whom?”
Ethan gave a tired smile.
“Apparently Visa.”
No one laughed.
Michael looked angry now.
Not at Ethan.
At himself, perhaps.
“Did Denise know?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying that.”
Ethan’s voice sharpened.
“Because your family has an unusual relationship with financial transparency.”
Michael absorbed that quietly.
Then he placed the flash drive on the coffee table.
“I’m not asking you to trust me.”
“Good.”
“I’m asking you to look at this before anybody starts rewriting what happened.”
Daniel reached for it.
Ethan stopped him.
“No.”
Daniel looked at him.
“What?”
“I don’t want to see it.”
“You need to know what’s there.”
“Why?”
“Because it could matter.”
“To what?”
“To protecting yourself.”
“From what?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
Ethan looked at Michael.
“Is there anything on there suggesting Lauren planned to hurt me?”
“No.”
“Blackmail me?”
“No.”
“Steal from me?”
“No.”
“Lie to the police?”
“No.”
“Then I don’t want it.”
Michael blinked.
“It shows what she was doing.”
“I already know enough.”
“You might not.”
“I know she monitored me.”
“Yes.”
“I know she kept records.”
“Yes.”
“I know she wanted me to sign something after marriage.”
“Yes.”
“I know she hit me.”
Michael’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“And I know I lied to her and cheated on her.”
“That’s not the same.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
He pointed at the flash drive.
“That thing is just more.”
Michael stared at him.
“More can matter.”
“Not if it turns into a competition over who was worse.”
Nobody spoke.
Ethan’s voice lowered.
“I don’t want to spend the next month proving she was terrible enough to justify leaving.”
That sentence changed the room.
Daniel leaned back.
Michael looked down at his hands.
I felt something inside me loosen.
Ethan continued.
“I left because I didn’t want to marry her.”
He swallowed.
“And because I was afraid of what we were becoming.”
Michael nodded slowly.
“That is enough.”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked at him.
“It has to be.”
Michael picked up the drive.
For a moment I thought he would put it back in his pocket.
Then he held it between both hands.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
“Destroy it.”
Michael looked surprised.
“Are you sure?”
“No.”
Ethan gave a tired laugh.
“But do it anyway.”
Michael nodded.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed immediately.
“Denise.”
No one spoke.
He declined the call.
It rang again.
He declined it again.
On the third call, he answered.
“What?”
Her voice was loud enough that I could hear the shape of anger without the words.
Michael stood.
“No.”
Another burst from the phone.
“No, I’m not at the hotel.”
He looked at Ethan.
Then at me.
His face hardened.
“I’m at Margaret’s.”
Denise’s voice became unmistakably sharp.
Michael pulled the phone away from his ear.
Even Ethan winced.
Michael waited until she stopped.
Then he said, “Because I needed to talk to Ethan.”
Another pause.
“No.”
His shoulders tightened.
“No, Denise.”
He turned toward the window.
“I’m not helping you tell people this is postponed.”
The room went still.
Michael listened.
Then his face changed.
“What do you mean you called the venue?”
Ethan stood.
Michael’s eyes widened.
“Denise.”
He listened again.
“No.”
Another pause.
“You cannot do that.”
Ethan stepped closer.
“What?”
Michael held up one hand.
His face had gone pale.
“You canceled the cancellation?”
Daniel stared.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Michael looked at us.
“She told the venue the ceremony is still happening.”
Ethan’s mouth opened.
Michael spoke into the phone again.
“With whom?”
He listened.
“Denise, Lauren ended the engagement.”
Another pause.
Then he froze.
“What do you mean Lauren changed her mind?”
Ethan stopped moving.
I felt the whole morning tilt.
Michael listened for several seconds.
Then he looked directly at Ethan.
“She says Lauren is at the hotel getting dressed.”
Ethan stared at Michael as if the words had arrived in the wrong language.
“She changed her mind?”
Michael still had the phone against his ear.
“Apparently.”
Daniel stood.
“No.”
The word came out flat.
Not angry.
Finished.
Michael turned away from Denise’s voice.
“I’ll call you back.”
He ended the call before she could answer.
For several seconds nobody moved.
Then Ethan laughed.
It was a short, stunned sound.
“She changed her mind.”
I watched his face.
He did not look hopeful.
He looked trapped.
Michael put the phone in his pocket.
“I don’t know what Denise told her.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
Ethan’s voice had gone quiet.
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
Ethan looked at him.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Daniel flinched.
I stepped between the impulse and the argument.
“What matters now?”
Ethan stared at the coffee table.
“The venue thinks there’s a wedding.”
“Yes.”
“The guests think it’s postponed.”
“Some do.”
“Lauren thinks it’s happening.”
“Apparently.”
He lifted his eyes.
“And I’m sitting here.”
“Yes.”
A strange calm settled over him.
“I need to tell her directly.”
Daniel immediately said, “No.”
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
I looked at Daniel.
“Outside.”
“Mom.”
“Now.”
He glared at me.
Then at Ethan.
Then he walked toward the back door.
Michael stayed seated.
Ethan looked at him.
“You too.”
Michael nodded.
He stood and followed Daniel outside.
I waited until the door shut.
Then I sat opposite Ethan.
“You do not have to see her in person.”
“I know.”
“You do not have to go to the hotel.”
“I know.”
“You do not have to rescue her from what her mother is doing.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
He rubbed both palms over his thighs.
“But I need to say it.”
“Then say it.”
He looked at his phone.
“I turned it back on.”
“I noticed.”
“She sent me twenty-three messages.”
“Have you read them?”
“No.”
“Do you want to?”
May you like
“No.”
“Then don’t.”
