Dominic reached for him.
“Arthur, don’t let her manipulate this. Evelyn is emotional. She just had a baby.”
Arthur looked at me.
I was pale, exhausted, still bleeding, holding a child against my chest.
Then he looked at Dominic.
“Apparently, she is also the only person in this room who kept records.”
Celeste began crying.
Not softly.
Not beautifully.
She cried like a woman watching her wedding become a business failure in real time.
Dominic’s phone started ringing.
Then Celeste’s.
Then Arthur’s.
One call after another.
Board members.
Lenders.
Attorneys.
The first news alert appeared twenty minutes later.
VALE-BELLAMY HOTEL MERGER DELAYED AMID LEGAL REVIEW.
The second came twelve minutes after that.
FRAUD QUESTIONS SURROUND LUXURY DEVELOPMENT GROUP.
Dominic stared at the screen as if the words had personally betrayed him.
“This will ruin me,” he whispered.
I looked at my daughter.
“No,” I said. “It will reveal you.”
