Chapter 2
“I saw her,” Sofi whispered. “In the bedroom. She kissed the other man.”
The garden became impossibly still.
Genevieve’s hand jerked away from Alex’s. “She’s three years old. She’s confused. Children invent things.”
Sofi shook her head. “He said your money. She called him baby. She said you trust her.”
In the back row, a blond man in an expensive suit shifted in his seat.
Nathan Cross. Genevieve’s childhood friend. A financial attorney who had attended three dinner parties. A man Alex had never thought twice about.
Alex saw him.
“Nathan?” he said.
Genevieve stared at him. For one unguarded second, her expression was not wounded. It was furious. Not because Alex doubted her. Because the plan had been interrupted.
That single second told him everything he needed to know.
Alex handed the ring to Julian. “Call my attorney. Now.”
Inside the estate library, the truth surfaced quickly. Julian found the silver flash drive in Nathan’s jacket pocket. On it lay draft transfer instructions, shell-company registrations, account numbers, and a detailed timeline scheduled to begin six weeks after the wedding. Forty-eight million dollars designed to vanish through three consulting entities and into offshore accounts.
Genevieve’s composure cracked. “You think this makes you noble? You buy everything. You buy loyalty, you buy silence, you buy people. And then you act surprised when someone decides to take what you were always going to throw away anyway.”
“I would have given you anything.”
“That’s the problem. I didn’t want to ask.”
By sunset, she was gone, her train dragging through the service entrance. Nathan followed in a separate car, escorted by security until the gates.
Alex sat alone on a stone bench in the garden, his tie loosened, his jacket folded beside him. Music still drifted from the reception hall where guests pretended not to discuss what they had witnessed.
Julian brought two glasses of bourbon.
“Are you going to fire Lucia?” Julian asked.
“Why would I?”
“She knew and stayed silent.”
“So did I. My instincts warned me for weeks.”
“That’s different.”
“Is it?”
Julian considered. “She has more to lose.”
“Yes. And I understand fear better than I understand courage.”
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“The numbers didn’t balance,” Alex said. “I should have seen it.”
“You saw it. You just didn’t want to believe it.”
