Chapter 6 - The Dinner Jennifer Built With Stolen Money)
Jennifer had spent eight months preparing the Aurelia announcement.
The guest list included investors, restaurant critics, developers, bankers, and Dallas society families she had spent years trying to impress.
Margaret called it Jennifer’s arrival.
Emma called it evidence.
Aurelia had been financed through companies connected to Northstar.
Emma knew because she had seen the invoices.
Jennifer did not know Emma had copied them.
By then Emma had perfected the role of defeated wife.
She cooked when asked.
She arranged flowers.
She checked catering inventories.
She cleaned guest rooms.
Margaret became careless.
People became careless around those they considered powerless.
Three days before the dinner, Jennifer entered the outdoor kitchen carrying a seating chart.
“You’ll work outside.”
Emma looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because several guests know about your problems.”
“My problems?”
Jennifer smiled.
“We don’t need people asking questions.”
Emma understood.
Jennifer wanted Daniel Cross’s wife hidden while celebrating a project built from Daniel Cross’s money.
“Fine,” Emma said.
Jennifer blinked.
She had expected resistance.
“You’ll help catering.”
“Fine.”
“And wear something simple.”
Emma turned back to the vegetables she was chopping.
“Anything else?”
Jennifer studied her.
“No.”
When Jennifer left, Emma opened the hollow base of the recipe box.
Robert’s flash drive was still there.
So was a second drive containing three years of Emma’s evidence.
She had made copies.
One was hidden behind a loose brick in the garden wall.
One sat in a safe deposit box opened with help from an old friend.
The third remained inside the recipe box because Emma wanted something close enough to reach.
Her plan was almost ready.
After five years, Emma no longer expected Daniel to come home.
She intended to expose Margaret and Jennifer herself.
The dinner presented an opportunity.
Investors.
Board members.
Witnesses.
Emma had secretly contacted an attorney named Claire Donovan.
Claire specialized in corporate fraud.
They had met twice in supermarket parking lots.
The plan was simple.
After Jennifer announced Aurelia, Claire would deliver evidence to two board members and a journalist.
Emma would walk away from Cross House that night.
For good.
She had packed one suitcase.
It was hidden in a garden storage room.
The morning of the party, Margaret entered Emma’s bedroom without knocking.
“You look nervous.”
“I’m tired.”
Margaret glanced around.
“You understand tonight matters to Jennifer.”
“Everything matters to Jennifer.”
Margaret ignored the comment.
“She has worked hard.”
Emma almost laughed.
“With whose money?”
Margaret’s eyes sharpened.
Emma held her gaze.
Then Margaret smiled.
“You still think you know something.”
“I know enough.”
Margaret walked closer.
“Robert Lane thought he knew enough.”
Emma’s body went cold.
Margaret’s expression remained perfectly calm.
“What does that mean?”
“It means frightened people make mistakes.”
“Was Robert frightened?”
“He should have been.”
Emma stared at her.
Margaret adjusted one of the curtains.
“You should remember that before you embarrass this family.”
Then she left.
Emma stood motionless.
For years she had wondered whether Robert’s death was really an accident.
Margaret had never come so close to implying otherwise.
Emma reached for her hidden phone and called Claire.
“Tonight has to happen.”
“Are you safe?”
“No.”
“I can contact police.”
“With what? A vague threat?”
“Emma.”
“If I disappear from the party, release everything.”
There was silence.
“You are frightening me.”
“Good. Then you will not hesitate.”
That evening, the mansion filled with light.
Champagne moved through rooms on silver trays.
Jennifer descended the staircase wearing emerald green.
Margaret wore black and gold.
Emma watched from the outdoor kitchen.
At seven forty, Claire texted one sentence.
Board members arriving.
At eight ten, another.
Journalist inside.
At eight thirty, Jennifer ordered Emma to wash catering pots because a dishwasher had supposedly failed.
Emma knew the machine worked.
It was humiliation.
Nothing more.
Jennifer wanted to end the night with Emma exhausted and invisible.
Emma put on rubber gloves.
At eight forty two, a private car turned onto the road leading to Cross House.
No one inside noticed.
At eight forty seven, a tall man in a black suit stepped from the car one block away.
He dismissed the driver.
He pulled a suitcase behind him.
At eight fifty one, he entered his own property through the side gate.
Daniel had not been home in five years.
He wanted to see the house before anyone knew he was there.
He walked past the garden.
Past the pool.
Past a storage room.
Its door was slightly open.
Inside sat a suitcase.
Daniel recognized it.
Emma’s.
He stopped.
On top of the suitcase rested an envelope.
Claire had instructed Emma to leave it there in case the evening went wrong.
Daniel opened it.
The first line read:
If you find this, I finally left.
Daniel’s chest tightened.
Then he heard Jennifer’s voice from the outdoor kitchen.
“Move faster.”
May you like
He walked toward the sound.
And saw his wife.
