Chương 5
“Because it was never sent to you.”
Elena stared at Vincent until the room around him seemed to lose depth.
“You kept it.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
“No.”
“You just said it was never sent.”
“The money wasn’t mine.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Adrian moved closer to his brother, not enough to touch him, but enough that Vincent had to lift his chin.
“Where is it?”
Vincent looked past him toward the windows.
“In escrow.”
“Still?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Vincent hesitated.
Madison gave a brittle laugh.
“Tell them.”
He looked at her.
“You’re really doing this?”
“You brought me into it.”
“I told you because we were getting married.”
“You told me because your lawyer found my name on a document and you panicked.”
Several guests nearby pretended to resume conversations, but no one was listening to anyone else.
Elena could see the bride’s mother standing near the floral arch, one hand pressed to her chest, watching her daughter with growing alarm.
Mr. Kim finally crossed the floor.
He stopped beside Elena, keeping his voice low.
“Do you need to leave?”
She almost said yes.
The word reached the back of her throat and stayed there.
If she walked away now, Vincent would have time to decide which version of the truth survived.
“No.”
Mr. Kim looked at the men, then at the spilled champagne.
“All right.”
His tone made it clear that nothing was all right.
He lifted the tray carefully.
“I’ll take this.”
Elena released it.
Without the weight in her hands, she felt strangely exposed.
Vincent glanced at Mr. Kim as he carried the tray away.
“Can we at least do this somewhere else?”
Elena said, “How much?”
He rubbed his thumb along the side of his wedding band, then remembered he was not wearing one yet.
His hand dropped.
“Two hundred eighty thousand initially.”
Elena heard a woman nearby inhale.
“Initially?”
Vincent looked at Adrian.
“The account accrued interest.”
“How much now?”
“A little over four hundred.”
Elena waited.
“Four hundred what?”
Vincent closed his eyes.
“Thousand.”
The number was so far outside Elena’s daily life that for a moment it became meaningless.
Four hundred thousand dollars.
She thought about the red notice taped to her apartment door last winter after the heating bill fell two months behind.
She thought about the dental crown she had postponed until the tooth split.
She thought about her mother’s funeral, where Elena had stood in a borrowed black dress while her uncle argued with the funeral director over a payment plan.
She had worked two jobs that year.
Three, briefly.
A bakery before sunrise, a pharmacy register in the afternoon, catering whenever somebody called in sick.
Four hundred thousand dollars had existed somewhere under her name while she counted quarters in a laundromat.
Her vision blurred.
Not tears.
Not yet.
She looked at Vincent.
“Who decided not to send it?”
He said nothing.
Adrian’s voice became very quiet.
“Answer her.”
Vincent’s nostrils flared.
“It wasn’t that simple.”
Elena laughed once.
The sound frightened even her.
“Of course.”
“There were legal complications.”
“What complications?”
“Your mother died before the final release was executed.”
“So?”
“The attorneys had to determine the proper beneficiary.”
“I was her daughter.”
“You weren’t the only potential claimant.”
Elena frowned.
“There was no one else.”
Vincent looked at the carpet.
A new uneasiness moved through her.
“Who else?”
He didn’t answer.
Madison said, “There was a man.”
Elena turned to her.
“What man?”
Madison’s face had lost nearly all its color.
“I don’t know.”
Vincent snapped, “Stop talking.”
Madison stared at him.
“No.”
“This is family business.”
Her mouth opened in disbelief.
“You asked me to sign a confidentiality agreement before our rehearsal dinner.”
A murmur passed through the nearest table.
Vincent’s head jerked toward the guests.
Madison’s eyes hardened.
“Don’t look at them.”
He looked back at her.
She stepped closer.
“You told me it was routine.”
“It was.”
“You had me sign it because you knew this could come out.”
“That agreement covered company matters.”
“It covered this.”
Adrian looked at Vincent.
“You had her sign an NDA about Elena?”
“No.”
“Then say exactly what it covered.”
Vincent’s mouth tightened.
He had the look of a man discovering that every possible answer harmed him in a different way.
Elena barely noticed.
“What man?”
Madison looked at her.
“The file referred to someone named Rafael.”
Elena’s stomach clenched.
Adrian turned toward her immediately.
He recognized the name from her face.
“Who is Rafael?”
Elena didn’t answer.
The ballroom seemed suddenly too warm.
The chandeliers blurred into white halos above the tables.
She put a hand on the back of a chair.
Vincent watched her carefully.
“You know him.”
Elena looked at him.
“Rafael Ramirez was my father.”
Adrian went still.
“You told me your father was dead.”
“He is.”
“When?”
“When I was fourteen.”
Vincent’s brow furrowed.
“That doesn’t match the file.”
Elena’s grip tightened on the chair.
“What?”
“The claimant contacted the company after your mother’s death.”
“No.”
“He identified himself as Rafael Ramirez.”
“No.”
“He provided documentation.”
“No.”
Her voice rose again.
This time she did not lower it.
“My father died in Queens Hospital when I was fourteen years old.”
Vincent stared at her.
Adrian asked, “You’re certain?”
Elena looked at him with such anger that he immediately regretted the question.
“I was there.”
He nodded once.
“All right.”
“I watched them cover him.”
“Elena.”
“I know when my father died.”
“I believe you.”
She swallowed hard.
Madison whispered, “Then someone lied.”
Vincent looked at her sharply.
Adrian said, “Someone forged a claim.”
Vincent shook his head.
“You don’t know that.”
“What else would you call a dead man filing paperwork?”
“We verified identity documents.”
“Who did?”
“Counsel.”
“Which counsel?”
“Corporate.”
“Name.”
Vincent’s jaw flexed.
“Daniel Mercer.”
Adrian’s expression altered.
Elena noticed.
“You know him.”
“He was our outside counsel for years.”
“Was?”
Adrian looked at Vincent.
“He retired?”
Vincent said nothing.
Adrian’s stare sharpened.
“Did Mercer retire?”
“He left.”
May you like
“When?”
“Three years ago.”
