Chapter 3 - TWENTY-EIGHT MILLIONI read the number twice.
$28,000,000.
My first thought was stupid.
There must be an extra zero.
Then I saw the trust account number.
Mine.
The account my grandfather created when I was born.
The one Dominic was never supposed to touch.
I looked at my husband.
“What is this?”
He rubbed his mouth.
“Vivienne—”
“What is this?”
People around us had stopped pretending not to listen.
My father lowered his voice.
“You don’t have to do this here.”
I looked at him.
“They did everything else here.”
That shut him up.
I held the paper toward Dominic.
“You tried to move twenty-eight million dollars out of my trust?”
“No.”
I stared at him.
He exhaled.
“Not exactly.”
I almost laughed.
“Excellent start.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“It was temporary.”
My father muttered something under his breath.
I didn’t catch it.
Dominic continued.
“My family’s company had a liquidity issue.”
Chloe’s eyes flicked toward Eleanor.
There.
A reaction.
Tiny.
But there.
I saw it.
“So you forged my authorization?”
“I didn’t forge—”
My father pulled another page from the folder.
My signature.
Except it wasn’t mine.
It was close.
Too close.
I looked at Dominic.
His face changed.
The last bit of argument left him.
“Who signed this?”
He didn’t answer.
“Dominic.”
“I can explain.”
“No.”
My voice shook now.
I hated that.
I wanted to sound cold.
Instead I sounded hurt.
“Just tell me who signed my name.”
Eleanor stepped in.
“Oh, for God’s sake.”
Everyone looked at her.
She folded her arms.
“It was paperwork.”
I stared.
She continued.
“Dominic was protecting his family.”
I laughed.
Actually laughed.
“His family?”
She hesitated.
That pause cut deeper than anything else.
I nodded slowly.
“Right.”
Dominic looked sick.
“Mom, stop.”
“No, she needs to grow up.”
Eleanor pointed at me.
“She’s sitting on more money than she could spend in ten lifetimes while our company is struggling.”
My father moved before I did.
One step.
That was enough.
Eleanor stopped pointing.
“My daughter’s money is not your emergency fund.”
Eleanor’s chin lifted.
“She married my son.”
My father’s voice dropped.
“She did not marry your debt.”
A murmur moved through the guests.
Dominic looked at me.
“I was going to put it back.”
“When?”
He swallowed.
“After the land deal closed.”
“What land deal?”
Silence.
Chloe looked at him sharply.
Even she didn’t know.
My father pinched the bridge of his nose.
That worried me more than anything.
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
“Tell me.”
He hesitated.
My father almost never hesitated.
“Dominic used your name as a guarantor on a commercial loan.”
The ballroom seemed to tilt.
“How much?”
“Forty-two million.”
My throat closed.
Dominic spoke quickly.
“It was secured!”
“With what?”
He said nothing.
I looked at my father.
“With what?”
My father handed me another document.
I read the address.
Then stopped breathing.
The collateral wasn’t one of Dominic’s properties.
It wasn’t Eleanor’s house.
It wasn’t Chloe’s condo.
It was a building in Boston.
A building my mother had left me before she died.
The last property she ever owned personally.
I looked at Dominic.
“You used my mother’s building?”
“I thought—”
I stepped back.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
My hand went over my stomach.
A hard pressure pulled low across my abdomen.
Not pain exactly.
But enough to make me catch my breath.
My father saw it.
“Vivienne?”
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t sure.
The pressure eased.
Then came back.
Stronger.
Dominic reached for me.
I slapped his hand away.
And at that exact moment, the hotel attorney leaned toward my father.
“Mr. Ashford.”
He spoke quietly.
But I heard him.
“We found the second signature.”
My father looked at him.
“Whose?”
The attorney turned his phone around.
A scanned authorization appeared.
At the bottom was a name.
Eleanor Mercer.
And beside her signature was another one.
Chloe Mercer.
The bride stared at the screen.
May you like
Then whispered,
“Oh, hell.”
