Chương 3
Sophia turned on the faucet. “Can this come out?”
“From the dress?”
“Yes.”
Naomi looked at the stain. “I have no idea.”
Sophia wet a towel.
“Don’t,” Naomi said. “You might set it.”
Sophia turned off the water.
For several seconds, both women stared at the unused towel.
Naomi’s expression softened. “We can call the designer.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It can matter and not matter.”
Sophia sat on the closed toilet lid because it was the nearest place.
Her body began shaking without permission.
Naomi crouched in front of her, careful not to touch the soaked fabric. “Do you want me to help you out of it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to call somebody?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want me to stop asking questions?”
Sophia looked at her.
Naomi nodded. “Good. I can do that.”
She sat on the bathroom floor. Her green silk bridesmaid dress pooled around her crossed legs. One of her heels had broken, though Sophia could not remember when.
Outside the bathroom, Richard spoke in a low voice to the attorneys. The words termination, lender, exposure, and injunction came through the door.
Sophia closed her eyes.
A notification vibrated against the marble counter.
Then another.
Then six in quick succession.
Naomi stood and turned Sophia’s phone face down.
“Leave it,” Sophia said.
“I am.”
“No. Give it to me.”
“That is an objectively terrible idea.”
“Naomi.”
Naomi handed it over.
The screen displayed forty-three missed messages. Most were from guests in the ballroom. Some asked whether Sophia was safe. Others wanted to know whether the agreement was really canceled. One woman she had not spoken to since sophomore year at Northwestern had written, Are you literally a secret billionaire???
A video had already been posted.
The thumbnail showed Margaret’s arm in motion and Sophia in white beneath the rose arch. The clip had been online for eight minutes and had more than twelve thousand views.
The caption read: INSANE WEDDING DRAMA AT THE LANGFORD. MOTHER-IN-LAW THROWS WINE, BRIDE DESTROYS ENTIRE FAMILY.
Sophia watched without sound.
The video began at the instant of impact. It caught Margaret’s line, Daniel’s refusal to defend her, Sophia touching the necklace, Richard entering with the folder, and the final exchange. The framing made Richard’s arrival appear perfectly timed, theatrical enough to seem rehearsed.
The clip ended on Margaret’s face.
Comments multiplied while Sophia watched.
Queen behavior.
Rich people are terrifying.
She planned this.
The groom is useless.
What company?
Eat the rich, but also I need episode two.
Sophia locked the phone.
“Take the dress off,” she said.
Naomi helped with the buttons along the back. The fitted lace resisted at the waist where the wine had soaked through. Sophia raised her arms. The sleeves clung to her skin.
When the gown finally loosened, she stepped out of it and stood in a strapless slip, stockings, and the diamond necklace.
The wedding dress collapsed on the bathroom floor.
Naomi picked it up carefully.
“Don’t clean it yet,” Sophia said.
“Because of the wine?”
“Because of the lawyers.”
Naomi’s mouth tightened. “That may be the saddest sentence anyone has said today, and your husband told you not to make things worse.”
A knock sounded at the suite door.
Richard answered it.
Daniel’s voice followed.
“I need to see her.”
Sophia reached for the hotel robe hanging behind the door. Her fingers missed the sleeve twice.
Naomi tied the robe for her. “You do not have to.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No. You feel like you do. Those are different.”
“I asked him to tell me the truth before the wedding.”
Naomi stared at her. “When?”
“Last night.”
“And?”
“He told me I was tired.”
Outside, Daniel raised his voice. “Sophia, please.”
Naomi looked toward the bathroom door. “I can make him leave.”
“You weigh a hundred and ten pounds.”
“I am full of hatred. It adds mass.”
Sophia opened the door.
Daniel stood in the middle of the suite. He had removed his jacket and bow tie. His white shirt was unbuttoned at the throat. Behind him, Richard’s lawyers waited near the windows, and Richard stood beside the champagne bucket with both hands in his pockets.
Daniel looked at Sophia’s robe, then at the dress Naomi carried.
His face folded briefly.
“I’m sorry.”
Sophia did not answer.
“I’m so sorry about what she did.”
“What did you know?”
He looked at Richard. “Can we speak alone?”
“No,” Sophia said.
“This is our marriage.”
“This is also his money.”
Richard corrected her. “The trust’s money.”
Sophia turned on him. “Not now.”
He nodded.
Daniel’s hands opened and closed at his sides. “I knew the company was under pressure.”
“How much pressure?”
“I knew the refinancing had stalled.”
“You told me it was administrative.”
“That’s what my mother said.”
“You sit on the board.”
“I don’t run finance.”
“You signed the quarterly certification.”
His eyes flicked toward the lawyers.
Sophia saw the answer before he gave it.
“I signed what counsel prepared.”
One of Richard’s attorneys shifted his weight.
Sophia said, “Did you read it?”
Daniel’s silence lasted too long.
“Did you read it?”
“Not every schedule.”
The room became very still.
Naomi carried the wedding dress to the bed and spread it across the white duvet. The stain looked violent against the sheets.
Sophia said, “There were liabilities excluded from the schedule. Related-party payments. Renovation obligations that were listed as completed when the work had been deferred.”
“I didn’t know about the renovation reports.”
“What did you know?”
He pressed his fingers to his forehead. “There was a cash issue.”
“How large?”
“I don’t know the exact number.”
“You told me the agreement would protect four thousand jobs.”
“It will.”
“It was based on false information.”
“I did not prepare the information.”
“No. You just signed your name under it.”
May you like
Daniel looked toward the windows. Forty floors below, traffic moved along the avenue in lines of red and white lights.
“My mother said the company would recover after the summer season,” he said. “She said the Reed commitment would calm the lenders. Once the lenders stopped panicking, everything would stabilize.”
