Chapter 4 - The Empire Collapses
Marcus pulled a second, much thicker stack of documents from the folder.
"During the routine audit required for the transfer of the trust," Marcus announced, his voice slicing through the chaos, "my forensic team discovered a series of highly irregular financial maneuvers. Over the past seven months, Adrian Hale has siphoned over four million dollars from the corporate expansion fund into an offshore shell company."
Celeste’s hands flew to her mouth.
"A shell company," Marcus added with a dark smile, "that was recently used to purchase the two-million-dollar diamond ring currently sitting on the bride's finger, as well as the deed to the villa in St. Barts where they intended to honeymoon."
The silence that fell over the room this time was suffocating. Embezzlement. In front of a room full of the very investors he had stolen from.
"You set me up!" Adrian roared, pointing a shaking finger at me. "You planned this!"
"I planned to give birth," I corrected him coldly. "You planned to commit federal wire fraud to fund a lifestyle you no longer owned. I just handed the receipts to the proper authorities."
Right on cue, the heavy doors at the back of the ballroom opened again. Two uniformed Boston police officers and a plainclothes detective from the white-collar crime division walked in, their badges glinting in the chandelier light.
Adrian stumbled backward, bumping into the lavish, five-tier wedding cake. The top tier wobbled and crashed to the floor, splattering white icing across the stage.
"Adrian Hale," the detective said, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "You are under arrest for corporate embezzlement, wire fraud, and grand larceny. Turn around and put your hands behind your back."
Celeste didn't try to stop them. She didn't cry for her new husband. Instead, she frantically began pulling the two-million-dollar diamond ring off her finger, terrified of being implicated in the theft. She threw the ring onto the stage and ran toward her parents in the front row, sobbing hysterically as her fairy-tale wedding burned to the ground.
Adrian was wrestled into handcuffs right in front of his board of directors, his friends, and his ruined bride. As the police dragged him off the stage, he looked at me, tears of pure, desperate defeat streaming down his face.
"Nora, please," he begged, his voice cracking into a pathetic whimper. "She's my daughter. Let me see her. Please."
I looked down at the stroller, then back at the man who had tried to erase us from existence.
May you like
"You don't have a daughter, Adrian," I whispered, the words hitting him like physical blows. "You told your bride I never gave you a child. I'm just making sure you keep your word."
I turned my back on him and walked away as the police dragged him out the side doors, his screams echoing into the rainy afternoon.
