Chapter 2 - The Architect of Betrayal
Charles Ashford looked like a corpse.
The patriarch who treated reputation like a religion was suddenly standing in front of two hundred of New York’s elite, exposed.
He didn't look angry.
He looked terrified.
Grant stepped toward him.
“Dad?” Grant’s voice cracked.
Charles swallowed hard, adjusting his perfectly tailored tie with trembling fingers.
“This is a fabrication,” Charles said loudly. “A malicious forgery.”
“It was downloaded directly from the clinic’s patient portal,” I said calmly. “The portal Piper accessed using my Fifth Avenue address and my insurance credentials.”
I looked at Piper.
She was shaking.
The truth was suddenly glaringly obvious to everyone in the room.
Piper hadn’t just targeted Grant.
She had targeted the Ashford fortune.
She had been sleeping with Charles first.
When she got pregnant, Charles panicked. A baby with a twenty-six-year-old consultant would destroy his marriage, his position on the board, and his social standing.
So he engineered a solution.
He introduced Piper to his son’s hotel division.
He encouraged her to get close to Grant.
He let his own son become the scapegoat for his indiscretion.
And Piper went along with it, knowing that whether she was the patriarch’s mistress or the son’s new wife, she would have access to the Ashford billions.
“You set me up,” Grant whispered, staring at his father.
Charles stepped backward.
“Grant, listen to me—”
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“You let me blow up my marriage to cover your tracks!” Grant screamed.
The sound of his voice shattering across the silent ballroom was deafening.
