Chapter 9 - The Wedding That Never Happened
After Margaret announced the truth in the hallway, no one returned to their seats.
The orchestra stopped.
Guests gathered in confused clusters.
Rebecca's mother cried.
Charles demanded privacy.
Lucas refused.
"No more closed doors."
Sophie remained in his arms.
Margaret approached them slowly.
Lucas's anger weakened when he saw the cast around her wrist.
"You were really in an accident."
Margaret nodded.
"I was coming here."
Lucas swallowed.
"Why didn't you ever tell me you were writing?"
"I did."
"I never got anything."
Margaret looked at Rebecca.
Lucas followed her eyes.
Everything became painfully clear.
Rebecca spoke.
"I can explain."
Lucas's voice was quiet.
"You've had two years."
Rebecca looked around at the guests.
"Not here."
"Here is exactly where we're doing it."
Charles stepped forward.
"Lucas, emotions are high."
Lucas pointed toward the bathroom.
"My seven-year-old daughter was locked in there on my wedding day."
Charles stopped.
Lucas removed the engagement ring Rebecca had given him and placed it on a hallway table.
Then he took the wedding band intended for Rebecca and set it beside it.
"We are finished."
Rebecca stared.
"Please don't do this."
"You already did it."
Tears ran down her face.
"I love you."
Lucas looked at Sophie.
"Then why was she behind a locked door?"
Rebecca had no answer.
Margaret held up a folder.
"Because Sophie is worth twenty-six million dollars."
The nearby guests went silent.
Lucas closed his eyes.
He hated the sentence.
Not because it was false.
Because it made his daughter sound like an account.
Margaret corrected herself.
"The trust is worth twenty-six million. Sophie is worth more than anything money could measure."
Lucas looked at her.
Margaret opened the folder.
"Charles Whitmore attempted to divert money from Anna's father's trust seven years ago. Anna discovered it."
Charles shook his head.
"Those allegations were reviewed."
"By your own firm."
"Nothing criminal occurred."
Margaret looked at Lucas.
"Anna was preparing to turn over records to federal investigators when she died."
Rebecca whispered.
"Dad."
Charles ignored her.
Margaret continued.
"After Anna's death, the investigation disappeared because no one knew where she had stored the original records."
Lucas remembered the lake house box.
"The letter."
Margaret nodded.
"Anna told me she made copies."
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Lucas understood.
"You were looking for them."
Rebecca shook her head.
"My father was."
"You searched Sophie's room."
Rebecca looked at the child.
Sophie whispered.
"You cut Bunny."
Lucas's face changed.
Rebecca started crying harder.
"I never wanted to hurt her."
"You locked her in a bathroom."
"I panicked."
"You told her she wasn't family."
"I was angry."
Lucas stepped closer.
"You planned to send her away."
Rebecca looked at Charles.
That one glance answered everything.
Lucas stared at her.
"My God."
"Lucas, Stonebridge is a good school."
"She's seven."
"It wasn't supposed to be forever."
"How long?"
Rebecca could not answer.
Margaret did.
"Until the audit was completed and Charles could challenge my involvement as family representative."
Charles snapped.
"This is absurd."
Ian Brooks appeared at the edge of the crowd.
"No, it isn't."
He carried a leather briefcase.
Lucas stared.
"Ian?"
"I asked him to come," Margaret said.
Ian walked forward.
He opened the briefcase and removed several pages.
"Charles, would you like me to explain the forged guardianship documents?"
The color drained from Charles's face.
Rebecca whispered.
"Dad told me Lucas had agreed."
Ian looked at her.
"Then your father lied to you too."
Charles turned.
"Don't say anything else."
Rebecca stared at him.
For the first time, the alliance between father and daughter cracked.
Lucas saw it happen.
Rebecca's voice trembled.
"You told me he signed them."
Charles lowered his voice.
"Rebecca."
"You told me the signatures were real."
"This isn't the place."
She laughed through her tears.
"You keep saying that whenever the truth arrives."
Charles took her arm.
Rebecca pulled away.
Then Sophie spoke.
"There was another paper."
Everyone looked at her.
Lucas lowered her carefully to the floor.
"What paper?"
Sophie wiped her cheeks.
"From Mommy's box."
"Where is it?"
Sophie looked toward the ballroom.
"I hid it."
Rebecca went completely still.
"Where?"
Sophie did not answer.
Lucas crouched.
"You only tell me if you want to."
Sophie nodded.
Then she took his hand.
"In the place Mommy said family secrets should never stay."
Lucas frowned.
Sophie led him into the ballroom.
Three hundred guests moved aside.
She walked to the memorial table displaying photographs of Anna.
She reached behind Anna's framed wedding portrait.
Taped to the back was a folded document.
Sophie handed it to Lucas.
Ian read the first page.
Then his expression changed.
"What?" Lucas asked.
Ian looked at Charles.
"This isn't only trust documentation."
"What is it?"
Ian turned the page.
"It's a copy of Anna's statement to investigators."
Margaret covered her mouth.
Lucas felt the room disappear around him.
Ian continued reading.
Then he stopped.
"Lucas."
"What?"
May you like
Ian stared at the final paragraph.
"Anna didn't believe her crash would be an accident."
