Chapter 13 - The Invitation With My Name on It
The week before the gala, my mother called.
“Your father is coming.”
“I expected he would.”
“Cassandra too.”
“That’s fine.”
“Emma…”
“What?”
“Are you planning something?”
I smiled.
“A fundraiser.”
“You know what I mean.”
“No revenge speech.”
She exhaled.
“Thank God.”
“There will be something else.”
Silence.
“What?”
“The audit results.”
Mom went quiet.
“Publicly?”
“Some findings are already public.”
“What will you say?”
“The truth.”
She whispered, “Your father will think you’re humiliating him.”
“He thought telling my fiancé I wasn’t wife material at dinner was reasonable.”
Mom flinched through the phone.
“I know.”
“This isn’t about humiliating anyone.”
And it wasn’t.
Harborlight had a responsibility to donors.
We would announce recovered assets and new oversight measures.
Dad’s name would appear only where legally necessary.
That distinction mattered to me.
I refused to become him.
That night, Adrian found me standing in front of the mirror holding the black gown selected for the event.
“Nervous?”
“Yes.”
“About speaking?”
“No.”
“Them?”
I nodded.
He stood behind me.
“You don’t have to prove anything.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
I met his eyes in the mirror.
“I think so.”
He smiled.
“Good.”
Then he kissed my forehead.
The next night, five hundred guests entered the Grand Bellamy Ballroom.
May you like
Among them were three people who once believed my life had ended when Daniel chose Cassandra.
They had no idea the woman hosting the evening was waiting behind the curtain.
