Chapter 9 - The Price of BelongingAdrian looked toward Marianne.
“Who paid for Felicity to attend the gala?”
Marianne’s face tightened.
“That hardly matters.”
“It matters to me.”
Richard answered.
“I covered the dress and transportation.”
“With what money?” Jenna asked.
He glared at her.
“This is becoming obscene.”
Jenna did not move.
Her mother had left a small insurance policy when she died. Most of it had been designated for Jenna’s education and living expenses while she completed nursing school.
Richard had managed the account.
For years, he told Jenna the money had been consumed by medical bills and taxes.
Jenna had never demanded records.
She trusted him.
Adrian saw her expression.
“What are you thinking?”
Jenna faced her father.
“Did you use Mom’s money?”
Richard’s silence was immediate and devastating.
Marianne whispered, “It was temporary.”
The ballroom seemed to tilt.
Jenna sat down slowly.
The stolen invitation had led Felicity to Adrian.
The dress that made her look polished enough to enter the Montgomery gala had been purchased with money left by Jenna’s mother.
Even the car service had come from the account Richard was supposed to protect.
Felicity lowered the microphone.
“I didn’t know where the money came from.”
Jenna looked at her.
“But you knew whose invitation you carried.”
Felicity’s lips pressed together.
Silas’s face hardened.
“How much was taken?”
Richard struck the table.
“This is none of your business.”
“It became my business when the theft was used to deceive my son.”
The word theft moved through the guests.
Richard recoiled.
“I intended to repay it.”
“Did you?” Jenna asked.
He did not answer.
Jenna thought of the overnight shifts.
The skipped meals.
The apartment she shared with two other nurses because she could not afford rent alone.
Her father had watched all of it.
May you like
And he had called her unambitious.
👉 Felicity’s perfect entrance into Adrian’s life had been purchased with the inheritance Jenna believed no longer existed.
