Chapter 4 - the funeral betrayal)
Victor's funeral was scheduled for eleven in the morning at St. Augustine Cathedral.
By ten thirty, the street outside was lined with black vehicles.
Executives arrived.
Politicians arrived.
Former employees arrived.
People who had hated Victor arrived because they wanted to be seen grieving him.
I wore white.
It had been Victor's request.
Adrian Cole delivered a sealed envelope to me the night before the funeral.
Inside was one sentence.
Rebecca wore white when she buried the truth. You wear white when you uncover it.
I did not understand.
I chose a white mourning dress and an antique lace veil that had belonged to my mother.
Dominic saw me before we left the house.
"You're wearing that?"
"Your father requested white."
"My father is dead."
"That doesn't cancel his request."
Dominic adjusted his cuff.
"People will talk."
"They already do."
He stared at me in the mirror.
"Don't embarrass me today."
I turned around.
"Your father's funeral isn't about you."
The expression on his face should have frightened me.
Instead it clarified something.
My marriage was over.
I simply had not said the words yet.
Dominic left separately.
He claimed he needed to meet the board.
I arrived at the cathedral with Adrian.
At ten forty-five, there was still no Dominic.
At eleven, the service began without him.
At eleven thirty-two, I stood beside Victor's coffin while a former senator delivered a eulogy.
Then the cathedral doors opened.
Dominic walked in.
Jessica was holding his arm.
She wore emerald green.
Not black.
Not gray.
Green.
The color Dominic once told me he loved on me.
Five hundred heads turned.
I felt the room rearrange itself around the betrayal.
Jessica did not look ashamed.
She looked triumphant.
Dominic guided her toward the family pew.
I stepped into the aisle.
"What are you doing?"
He gave me an exhausted look.
"Not now."
Jessica smiled.
"Actually, now seems perfect."
She lifted a crystal glass she had apparently carried in from the reception area.
Before I understood what she intended, red wine poured over my veil.
Cold liquid ran down my hair.
Across my cheek.
Over my mother's lace.
Jessica leaned close.
"Get lost."
I smelled wine on her breath.
"You were useful while Victor was alive. Now you're just a penniless leech."
She grabbed my collar.
Something snapped inside me.
My fist hit her jaw.
I had never punched anyone in my life.
It hurt.
Jessica stumbled backward.
Her hip struck the side of Victor's coffin.
She collapsed into the flowers.
Someone screamed.
Dominic lunged toward me.
"What the hell is wrong with you?"
I slipped my hand into my pocket.
The USB was there.
Security moved.
Then the lights went dark.
Victor appeared on the screen.
The dead man took control of his own funeral.
By the time the recording ended abruptly after mentioning my mother, nobody cared about Jessica's wine or my punch.
They cared about Dominic.
They cared about eighty-two million dollars that Victor claimed had disappeared.
They cared about Helix Bridge.
And they cared about the USB in my pocket.
Adrian stepped beside me.
"Come with me."
Dominic blocked our path.
"She's my wife."
Adrian's expression remained calm.
"Not in any legal sense relevant to this situation."
"That drive belongs to my father."
"Victor specifically transferred possession to Elena."
Dominic looked at me.
"Give it to me."
"No."
"Elena."
"No."
Jessica stood behind him holding her jaw.
Her confidence had disappeared.
Dominic grabbed my wrist.
Daniel Rhodes caught his hand.
"Take your hand off Mrs. DeLuca."
Dominic stared at him.
"You work for me now."
Daniel shook his head.
"No, sir."
The word sir sounded almost insulting.
"Your father terminated my employment contract six weeks ago and retained me personally through the estate."
Dominic looked around.
People were watching.
Phones were raised despite the cathedral's request for privacy.
The story was already escaping the building.
Adrian led me into the sacristy.
Mara Chen followed.
So did Daniel.
The door locked behind us.
I pulled off the stained veil.
My hands were shaking.
"Tell me what is happening."
Adrian placed a laptop on a table.
"Victor left instructions."
"Everyone keeps saying that."
"Because he left many."
Mara inserted the USB.
A password field appeared.
I looked at them.
"I don't know the password."
Daniel said quietly, "Your mother's first engineering license number."
I stared at him.
"How would Victor know that?"
Daniel did not answer.
Adrian slid a photocopy across the table.
It was my mother's license.
I entered the number.
The drive opened.
There were six folders.
HELIX.
DOMINIC.
JESSICA.
REBECCA.
ESTATE.
IF THEY LIE.
I clicked REBECCA.
Adrian stopped me.
"Victor's instructions say that folder comes last."
"My mother is dead."
Daniel's expression changed.
Not much.
But enough.
I looked at him.
"Isn't she?"
May you like
Nobody answered.
Outside the locked door, Dominic began pounding.
