Chapter 2: The Toast They Never Saw Coming
The ballroom fell into absolute silence.
Lauren's whispered words echoed through every speaker.
"Relax... she'll never know."
A heartbeat later, the video showed Ethan pulling her into another kiss.
Gasps rippled across the room.
Crystal glasses froze halfway to guests' lips. Forks clattered against expensive china. Every pair of eyes shifted from the giant screens to the bride and groom standing beneath them.
Ethan's face drained of color.
"Megan..." he whispered.
She didn't even look at him.
Lauren lunged toward the DJ.
"Turn it off!"
Marcy calmly stepped in front of the control booth.
"I'm afraid the bride requested the full presentation."
The next clip played.
"The house transfer. Her grandfather's estate becomes ours once we're married. After that... we'll handle the rest."
A collective murmur swept through the ballroom.
Someone in the front row stood.
It was Richard Hale.
The attorney who had represented Megan's grandfather for nearly thirty years.
He slowly removed his glasses.
"So," he said quietly, "this is what you've been planning."
Ethan's mouth opened.
"It's not what it sounds like."
Richard looked almost disappointed.
"It sounds exactly like conspiracy to commit fraud."
Lauren immediately pointed at Ethan.
"He came up with everything!"
Ethan spun toward her.
"You forged the documents!"
"You told me she'd sign them!"
Within seconds they were screaming at each other, each desperate to avoid taking the blame.
Megan simply watched.
The two people who had lied to her for months were destroying each other without any help from her.
Then she reached into her bouquet.
Instead of flowers, hidden beneath the white roses, rested the fake transfer papers Lauren had brought to her hotel room.
She held them up for everyone to see.
"This," Megan said calmly, "is what my sister wanted me to sign."
She paused.
"And this..."
She lifted her grandfather's original leather folder.
"...is the document they never knew existed."
Richard stepped beside her and removed the original deed.
"There is no legal transfer," he announced to the room.
"Even if this wedding had happened, Ethan would have received absolutely nothing."
Ethan stared at the deed.
"No..."
Richard nodded.
"The estate has always belonged solely to Megan."
The groom suddenly realized the truth.
Everything.
The affair.
The lies.
The months of manipulation.
May you like
All of it...
had been for nothing.
