Chương 2
Claire closed her eyes as another pin came free from her hair. Her scalp ached where the braids had been pulled too tight.
Her father lowered his voice. “He humiliated you.”
“I was there.”
“I want to know why.”
“Because he thought I wanted his money.”
“Did you?”
Elise stopped removing pins.
Claire opened her eyes.
Her father looked sick as soon as the question left him, but he did not withdraw it. Martin Harlow had spent the previous eighteen months telling anyone who would listen that his daughter’s engagement was nobody’s business. He had ended friendships over jokes about inheritance. He had refused Walter’s offer to pay the remaining mortgage on the Harlow house. He had bought his tuxedo instead of renting it because, as he told Claire, he did not want Mercer’s people thinking her family had arrived with their hands open.
Now he stood in the bridal suite with his rented patent-leather shoes pinching his toes and asked the question the entire ballroom had been asking.
Claire sat in front of the mirror.
“I wanted him,” she said. “I also wanted the life he had. Both things can be true.”
Her mother resumed pulling pins from the elaborate braid, one at a time.
Martin stared at her. “What does that mean?”
“It means I liked not checking prices. I liked that a broken furnace was an inconvenience instead of a disaster. I liked getting into a car and knowing it would start. I liked that Mom could see the specialist Walter recommended without waiting four months.”
“I paid that bill,” Elise said.
“I know.”
“Then don’t use me to explain this.”
“I’m not using you.”
“You just did.”
Claire swallowed. A strand of blonde hair fell loose beside her cheek. In the mirror she looked younger without the veil, and more foolish.
Her father stopped pacing. “Did you ever tell Walter that?”
“Not exactly.”
“Why not?”
“Because when people already believe the worst thing about you, you don’t hand them supporting documents.”
Martin looked toward the closed door. Outside, footsteps passed in the hallway, followed by a burst of muffled conversation.
“What other things have you kept from us?” he asked.
Claire looked at her mother in the mirror.
Elise’s fingers paused against the final pin.
“There are irregularities in Walter’s company accounts,” Claire said. “I found them six weeks ago.”
Her father’s anger vanished so quickly it left only confusion.
“What kind of irregularities?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You don’t know, or you won’t say?”
“I know money has been moving through vendors that don’t make sense. I know some of the invoices were approved twice under different project numbers. I know one company billing Mercer properties for restoration consulting has no employees, no office, and a mailing address that belongs to a private mailbox store in Delaware.”
Elise moved around the chair. “How do you know any of that?”
Claire looked down at her bare ring finger.
“I used Walter’s computer.”
Her father sat on the edge of the bed.
The mattress sank beneath him with a soft sigh.
“You went into his accounts?”
“Not his bank accounts. His company portal. It was open.”
“That is not a distinction I would depend on.”
“I wasn’t looking for money.”
“What were you looking for?”
“A vendor name.”
“Why?”
Claire reached for one of the makeup wipes on the counter and began rubbing foundation from the inside of her wrist, though there was almost none there.
“Because Simon Vale lied to me.”
Her mother knew the name. Everyone did. Simon was Walter’s chief financial officer, a narrow, polished man in his early fifties who had been seated at Walter’s right hand during the rehearsal dinner. He handled the Mercer companies, the family office, the trust negotiations, and most of the arrangements Walter disliked discussing. Claire had once heard Walter call him the only man in the building who understood where every dollar slept.
“What did he lie about?” Elise asked.
“A hotel renovation in Baltimore. I worked procurement on the early phase before Walter and I started seeing each other. A vendor called Bellwether Preservation was removed because they couldn’t prove insurance coverage. Two months ago, I saw their name on a document in Walter’s study. Simon told me they’d never worked for Mercer. Then I saw a payment schedule with their name on it.”
Martin rubbed both hands over his face. “You had this for six weeks and said nothing.”
“I tried.”
“To Walter?”
“Twice.”
“And?”
“The first time Simon walked in. The second time Walter said I needed to stop treating every business decision like a procurement dispute. He thought I was angry because I’d left the company.”
“You were angry because you’d left the company.”
“I resigned because every meeting turned into a discussion about whether I was sleeping with the owner.”
“You were.”
“After I resigned.”
“That didn’t stop people.”
“No. It didn’t.”
Her mother placed the last pin on the counter. “What did you do with what you found?”
“I contacted Naomi Pike.”
Martin stared at her. “Walter’s former lawyer?”
“Former general counsel. She left after Simon became CFO.”
“Does Walter know?”
“No.”
“Does Simon?”
“I don’t think so.”
A phone vibrated inside one of the silk dressing robes draped over a chair. Then another phone began buzzing on the counter. Elise picked hers up, looked at the screen, and turned it facedown.
“What?” Claire asked.
“Nothing useful.”
“Mom.”
“It’s your aunt.”
“What did she say?”
Elise hesitated. “Someone posted the video.”
It had taken eleven minutes.
By the time Claire changed into gray sweatpants and an oversized sweater borrowed from her cousin, the interruption had been clipped into three versions. One ended after Walter’s first line, making him look like a romantic with a secret. The second ended on the announcement about the trust. The third included Claire removing the ring and leaving.
The full exchange had not appeared yet.
That did not matter.
May you like
People supplied the missing parts themselves.
At first, the comments were divided between admiration for Walter’s cleverness and disgust at his timing. Then an account dedicated to celebrity divorces posted Claire’s former job title and the age difference. Another user found the listing for her parents’ house, including the mortgage estimate. A photograph from the engagement party appeared beside a calculation of the diamond’s probable value.
