Chapter 8 - THE WEDDING BECOMES A CRIME SCENE
The first police officer entered at 9:47 p.m.
By 10:05, Chloe’s reception no longer looked like a wedding.
Uniformed officers stood near every entrance.
Detectives spoke privately with Amanda.
An insurance investigator arrived carrying two briefcases.
Hotel technicians copied surveillance files.
The enormous wedding cake remained untouched beneath white roses.
Two hundred guests were told they were free to leave after providing contact information.
Very few left immediately.
Scandal had gravity.
People wanted to see how far everything would fall.
I wanted to go home.
My father arranged for a suite upstairs.
But before I left, Detective Rachel Ortiz asked if she could speak with me.
She looked at my torn gown.
“Are you injured?”
“No.”
“Did Mrs. Eleanor Carter physically restrain you?”
“She grabbed the back of my gown and pulled.”
“Without permission?”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone else touch you?”
“Chloe grabbed my arm.”
Dominic looked toward us from across the ballroom.
Ortiz followed my gaze.
“Your husband?”
“He didn’t touch me.”
“Did he participate in the search?”
“No.”
“Did he stop it?”
“No.”
She nodded slowly.
“I’m sorry.”
I appreciated that she did not say anything else.
After the statement, I walked toward the elevators with my father.
Dominic followed.
“Vivienne, please.”
My father turned.
I touched his arm.
“I’ll handle it.”
Dominic looked exhausted.
“Can I come upstairs?”
“No.”
“I just want to make sure you’re okay.”
“You had that opportunity.”
He looked down.
“Can I at least see you tomorrow?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’re having a baby.”
The sentence hit me harder than I expected.
I placed a hand over my stomach.
“I know.”
“I want to be a father.”
“Then become one.”
His eyes lifted.
“But being a father does not require me to remain your wife.”
The elevator doors opened.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Vivienne.”
I looked at him one final time.
“I spent three years hoping you would choose me before I forced you to.”
He whispered,
“I choose you.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
“You choose me now because everyone can finally see what your family did.”
The doors began closing.
“You never chose me when choosing me cost something.”
The doors shut between us.
Upstairs, my father ordered tea.
I laughed when I saw it.
“What?”
“You still think tea fixes everything.”
“It fixed several things when you were six.”
“I’m thirty-one.”
“You remain stubborn at every age.”
For a few seconds, I was a daughter again.
Not a humiliated wife.
Not an heiress.
Not a future single mother.
Just his daughter.
Then he sat across from me.
“Why didn’t you tell me how bad it was?”
I stared at the cup.
“Because I knew what you’d do.”
“Which was?”
“Exactly this.”
He smiled faintly.
“Arrive?”
“Take control.”
His expression softened.
“Vivienne, you asked me to stay out of your marriage.”
“I know.”
“I did.”
“I know.”
“Even when your mother wanted to send people after Eleanor because of the Christmas comment.”
I looked up.
“Mom knew?”
“Your mother knows everything.”
Despite myself, I laughed.
My father reached across the table.
“You were never required to prove you could survive mistreatment without us.”
That sentence broke something open inside me.
Tears finally came.
Quietly.
My father moved beside me.
I leaned against his shoulder.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
I asked.
He answered the call.
Rebecca spoke long enough that my father stopped moving.
When he hung up, I knew there was another problem.
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“Dominic’s company accounts were searched.”
My stomach tightened.
“And?”
My father’s voice became grim.
May you like
“Someone has been transferring money from Carter Development into an account linked to the jeweler who bought Chloe’s original ring.”
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