Chapter 12 - The Engagement Trap
The file against Mom was convincing.
Too convincing.
Mom stared at the signature.
"That's mine."
I looked at her.
"You signed this?"
"I signed a blank termination form. They told me the rest would be completed later."
Adrian swore under his breath.
Vanessa placed a second folder on the table.
"My father kept both versions. The fake one and the original."
"Why?" Mara asked.
"Insurance. Powerful men collect each other's sins."
The original proved Mom had been framed.
Vanessa had stolen it from her father's safe that morning.
I looked at her.
"Why help us?"
"Because I don't want to marry Adrian."
Adrian said, "This is becoming repetitive."
Vanessa ignored him.
"And because my father has spent my whole life telling me his corruption is the price of protecting our family. I'm done paying it."
I asked about Evelyn Sterling.
Nobody answered.
That worried me.
The council gala was scheduled for the next evening at the same hotel where I had been serving champagne.
Salvatore expected Adrian to announce a bride.
Mara proposed we use the event to force the evidence public.
Adrian hated the plan.
I hated it more.
The women would attend as expected.
Vanessa would let her father believe the engagement was happening.
Bianca would bring the Carlo recording.
Celeste would bring shipping logs.
Mara would bring hospital procurement records.
I would stay away.
At least that was Adrian's plan.
"Absolutely not."
"Liya."
"You keep saying people are dangerous because they think I matter to you. Hiding me confirms it."
"This isn't a movie."
"I know. In movies, waitresses don't have to worry about oncology copays."
He almost smiled.
Then stopped.
"I can't lose you because of my family."
The words landed between us.
I said softly, "You don't get to decide what I risk."
He looked away.
Then his phone buzzed.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph of the Carrington ballroom.
Under it:
BRING LIYA. OR ELEANOR'S TREATMENT RECORDS GO PUBLIC BY MIDNIGHT.
May you like
The sender signed one word.
STERLING.
