part 6
Victoria Vance strode directly into the altar space, her voice dropping into a sharp, venomous command. “This is a highly confidential, private family matter! Turn off that equipment this instant!”
I turned my head to look directly into her eyes. “You permanently waived your right to confidentiality, Victoria, the exact second you turned my father’s legacy into a corporate acquisition strategy.”
Arthur Thorne tried to subtly step backward toward the hedge maze path to exit the perimeter. Chloe Park stepped into his line of sight before he could complete three paces, flanked by two uniform state troopers.
Our lead litigation attorney, Sophia Sterling, opened a heavy leather brief on the altar rail. “Mr. Vance, Mrs. Vance, and Mr. Thorne, my firm has successfully logged certified copies of your internal accounting records, backdated vendor transfers, and the live audio data from last night’s session with the federal compliance branch. Your personal and corporate accounts have been frozen by emergency court order as of 8:00 a.m. this morning.”
Dominic looked at me, pure, unadulterated panic twisting his handsome features into something pathetic. “Audrey, please. We can fix this. I love you. We can go inside and talk about the terms.”
For the very first time all morning, the ice in my chest flared with a momentary burn. “We talked for two years, Dominic. You simply forgot to disclose the fact that you were counting down the days until my forced disappearance.”
He reached out to seize my wrist. I stepped back—a clean, decisive lateral movement. The rejection was clinical, and every single camera lens in the garden captured it.
The rows of guests descended into an absolute uproar of whispers and frantic phone calls. Many looked completely horrified; others looked deeply ashamed, as if they had always identified the rot beneath the Vance family’s perfect public manners but had simply chosen to protect their portfolios rather than question the source of the capital.
Paige stood right beside me at the altar, her eyes burning with absolute rage as she glared at Dominic. “You came here knowing every single line of data, didn’t you?” she whispered to me.
“I came here to terminate their operations exactly where they planned to log their primary profit,” I replied.
Dominic’s father, Arthur Vance, who had spent the entire two-year engagement silent, distant, and completely removed from the wedding arrangements, rose slowly from his seat in the front row. He didn’t look at me, and he didn’t look at his son. He turned his glacial gaze directly onto his wife.
“Offshore real estate liabilities, Victoria?” he asked, his voice low and vibrating with absolute finality.
Victoria’s jaw clenched, her silver dress looking suddenly rigid under the bright sunlight. “Not in front of the board, Arthur.”
May you like
“Yes,” the old chairman replied, stepping into the aisle. “Right now.”
In that exact fraction of a second, I understood completely that the Vance dynasty was never a family unit. They were merely a highly polished performance. And the performance had just permanently collapsed in front of their entire market.
