Chapter 7
Warren,
I know what you and Silas have done. I have copies of every payment, every false invoice, and every transfer. If anything happens to me, Edith will have what she needs to protect herself and Miles.
You were my friend once. Give back what you took before your children grow up carrying your shame.
Arthur
My vision blurred.
For years, my parents had called Miles’s family desperate.
They had mocked Edith for cleaning offices.
They had described Miles as a burden.
Meanwhile, the company that paid for my childhood home, my schools, and my comfortable life had been built partly from what they stole from his father.
“Does Edith know?” I asked.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“She spent twenty-two years trying to survive. I wasn’t going to tell her until I knew the documents were real.”
“And are they?”
“I took copies to an attorney last week. He verified the signatures and company records. There’s enough here to reopen the ownership dispute.”
I pushed my plate away.
“Take me to my parents’ house.”
“Sloane, we just got married.”
“Exactly.”
He covered my hand.
“You don’t have to confront them tonight.”
“Yes, I do.”
—
I was still wearing my wedding dress when my father opened the door.
At first, his face showed irritation.
Then he saw Miles standing behind me with the metal case.
The color disappeared from his cheeks.
“You opened it,” he whispered.
Miles said nothing.
My mother appeared in the hallway.
When she noticed the case, she gripped the banister.
“You should not have brought that here.”
I walked past my father and placed the case on the dining table.
The same table where they had shown me Bennett’s photographs.
The same table where my father had ordered me not to marry Miles.
“Tell me the truth.”
My father closed the front door.
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with.”
“I know Arthur Carter owned one-third of your company.”
My mother sat down abruptly.
My father remained standing.
“That agreement is more than twenty years old.”
“So it’s real.”
“Business arrangements change.”
“Did Arthur sell his share?”
Silence.
Miles opened the ledger.
“Did he sign the transfer document?” I asked.
My father’s jaw tightened.
“You are allowing this man to poison you against your family.”
“This man became my husband today.”
“You’ve known him for eleven years. You have known us your entire life.”
“And I have never seen Miles lie.”
My mother began crying quietly.
My father turned toward her.
“Celeste, stop.”
“No,” she said. “I’m tired.”
He stared at her.
She wiped her face with both hands.
“I’m tired of pretending this was done for Sloane.”
“What was done?” I asked.
My mother looked at me.
“Your father and Silas were in trouble. The company owed more than they expected, and an investor was threatening to pull out. Arthur refused to approve several transfers.”
“Because they were illegal?” Miles asked.
She lowered her eyes.
“Because he believed they were dishonest.”
My father gave a bitter laugh.
“Arthur was a mechanic with principles and no understanding of how business survived.”
“He owned the company too,” I said.
“He would have destroyed it.”
“So you forged his signature.”
“We planned to repay his share once the company recovered.”
Miles’s voice remained quiet.
“You told my mother there was nothing left.”
My father finally looked at him.
“We paid the funeral expenses.”
Miles flinched as though he had been struck.
I stepped between them.
“You stole his father’s company and believe paying for his funeral made it fair?”
“You grew up in comfort because of the decisions I made,” my father snapped. “Do not stand there in a wedding dress and judge choices that gave you everything.”
“Everything except the truth.”
My mother pressed a hand over her mouth.
I looked at her.
“Why did you push me toward Bennett?”
She glanced at my father.
“Because Silas knew.”
“Bennett’s father helped forge the transfer.”
May you like
“Yes.”
“And if I married Bennett, both families would remain connected.”
