“But our controller has just confirmed that two vendor payments made from a client escrow account match deposits to Northline Consulting.”
Robert Kane ran toward the side exit.
Security stopped him before he reached the door.
The guests began whispering.
Phones appeared above tables.
The same people who had laughed at me now leaned into the scandal with hungry attention.
I hated that part of it.
This was not entertainment to Noah and me.
It was the wreckage of our home displayed under crystal chandeliers.
I placed one hand on Noah’s shoulder.
“We can leave,” I told him.
He looked up at me.
“Is it over?”
“Our part can be.”
Before we could move, Lila spoke again.
“What else was on the phone?”
Rebecca answered, “That question should be handled privately with your attorney.”
Lila turned to Ethan.
“Was there someone else?”
He stared at her.
It was only a pause, but she understood it.
She removed her wedding ring.
“Who?”
“There was no one else.”
The phone screen changed.
A recovered text appeared from Ethan to Robert.
Keep the apartment under M’s company.
Lila watches the cards now.
Lila’s fingers closed around the ring.
“Who is M?”
Ethan did not answer.
A woman near the bar began to cry.
She wore a pale green dress and a badge from Ethan’s firm clipped inside her purse.
I remembered seeing her at a holiday party years earlier.
Morgan Hale, a regional account manager.
Lila followed my gaze.
Morgan covered her mouth.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Ethan turned on her.
“Don’t say another word.”
That command told Lila everything his denial had not.
She stepped onto the small platform beside the head table and placed the ring on top of the wedding cake.
The gesture was quiet, almost delicate.
Then she faced Ethan.
“You told me Claire was unstable.
You said she invented the financial problems because she couldn’t accept that you loved me.”
Ethan moved closer.
“She manipulated the phone.
She manipulated Noah.
She has been planning revenge for months.”
I could have defended myself.
I did not need to.
Noah spoke first.
“Mom didn’t even want to come.”
His voice was small, but the microphone was still in my hand and caught every word.
