Chapter 2 - The Price of the Roses
“Unstable,” I repeated, the word tasting like rust on my tongue.
I didn't look at Mason. I looked directly at the front row, locking eyes with his mother, Brenda. She was wearing an expensive silver gown, clutching her beaded evening bag so tightly her knuckles were white. She couldn’t meet my eyes. She looked down at the floor, thoroughly suffocating in her own complicity.
“Is that the same story you told your mother, Mason?” I asked, my voice slicing through the tension. “Is that what you told her when you drained eighty thousand dollars from our joint savings account to pay for this venue?”
Gasps erupted like a chain reaction across the ballroom. The wealthy, elite guests began murmuring furiously to one another. Claire’s father, a formidable man with silver hair, stood up abruptly from the front pew, his face dark with fury.
“What the hell is she talking about, Mason?” Claire’s father boomed. “You told us you paid for this reception with your bonus from the firm!”
Mason’s face flushed a violent, panicked red. The walls were closing in, and he knew it.
“She’s lying! She forged the documents! Get her out of here!” Mason screamed, entirely losing his composure. He lunged down the aisle toward me, his hands curling into fists, but the best man stepped out of the pew and grabbed him by the shoulder, physically holding him back.
I didn't flinch. I didn't take a single step backward. I simply lifted the sealed envelope I had been holding and tore open the top.
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“These are certified bank records,” I announced, pulling out a thick stack of highlighted financial statements and letting the envelope drop to the floor. “They show every single wire transfer. Every withdrawal. Every cent you stole from your newborn daughter’s emergency fund to buy that custom tailored suit, this open bar, and these thousands of cream roses.”
Claire looked physically sick. She looked at Mason as if she were staring at an absolute stranger. Because she was. She thought she was marrying a successful, independent businessman. She was actually marrying a broke, parasitic fraud who had financed his new life with the money meant to keep his child alive.
