Chapter 4 - The First DominoThe color vanished from Julian Vance’s face faster than it had from Ryan’s.
Julian, standing rigid in his groomsman attire, took an involuntary step backward, his eyes darting frantically toward the leather folder in my hand. He knew what was in there. Or, at least, he was terrified of what I might have uncovered.
“This is a private wedding, Mia!” Ryan shouted, his voice cracking slightly as panic pierced through his anger. He lunged toward the edge of the platform. “You’ve lost your damn mind. You’re bitter, you’re barren, and you can’t stand to see me happy—”
“Stop talking, Ryan,” I interrupted, my tone so freezing cold that it stopped him dead in his tracks. “You love talking about what I couldn’t give you. You spent two years telling everyone that my womb was a dead end. That my miscarriages were my fault.”
I took two steps closer to the altar, looking directly at Lauren, who was trembling beneath her multi-thousand-dollar veil.
“But the truth is far more interesting, isn't it, Lauren? Isn't that right, Julian?”
Julian stepped forward, forcing a strained, oily smile onto his face. “Now, Mia, let’s not make a scene. Whatever personal grievances you have with Ryan can be settled in arbitration, not in the middle of a holy ceremony. Let’s step into the vestry and talk like civilized adults—”
“Civilized adults don't embezzle four million dollars from an estate trust, Julian,” I snapped, turning my gaze fully onto him.
The murmurs in the pews exploded into outright pandemonium. Heads whipped back and forth between the altar and the back rows. Several high-profile investors—men whose hedge funds and venture capital firms funded Vance & Sterling—straightened in their seats, their expressions turning from amused spectatorship to razor-sharp alarm.
“What is she talking about?” a prominent Chicago real estate developer barked from the second row, standing up to get a better look.
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I didn't wait for Julian to scramble for an excuse. I opened the leather folder, pulled out the top stack of certified bank statements, and held them up.
“This is the audit trail of the Carter Family Trust,” I announced to the room. “My grandmother’s legacy. Siphoned systematically over the past three years through a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands under the name Veritas Holdings. And registered as the sole beneficiary and managing director of Veritas Holdings? None other than Julian Vance... and Lauren Hayes.”
