Sienna opened the box in front of four hundred guests.
She probably expected an apology or a family heirloom surrendered by the sister she had defeated.
Instead, she lifted Arthur’s marriage certificate and screamed.
The orchestra stopped.
Arthur grabbed the paper from her hands.
“This is fake,” he announced.
Then every screen in the ballroom went black.
Sienna had insisted that her wedding be livestreamed throughout the hotel. Her planner connected the flash drive, believing it contained a prerecorded toast from me.
The first image showed Arthur standing beside Brooke on their wedding day.
Next came their legal marriage record, joint tax documents and recent messages in which Arthur promised Brooke that he would return after completing “the Vance Crest deal.”
Then Brooke’s voice filled the ballroom.
“My name is Brooke Thorne, and Arthur Vance is still my husband.”
Guests immediately raised their phones.
My mother rushed toward the control table.
“Turn it off!”
But another file opened.
Financial spreadsheets appeared across the screens. They showed money moving from employee retirement accounts into Arthur’s shell companies, then into payments for the wedding, Sienna’s diamond necklace and my parents’ lake house.
My father went pale.
Arthur recovered quickly.
“Eleanor created this,” he said. “She is unstable and bitter because she was not invited.”
At that moment, the chapel doors opened.
Brooke entered beside her attorney and two investigators from the state financial-crimes unit.
