Chapter 5
Everyone looked at her.
“I put it in my desk folder with the rest of the event receipts.”
Marcus’s voice remained gentle.
“Maybe you moved it and forgot.”
Vivian faced him.
“I didn’t.”
More evidence arrived that afternoon.
Seventeen minutes of security footage from the kitchen corridor were missing.
A nineteen-year-old kitchen assistant named Tyler Reed claimed he had seen Vivian switch containers during preparation.
“She looked nervous,” Tyler said.
Vivian stared at him.
“You were in the ballroom all afternoon.”
Tyler looked at the floor.
“I came back for a tray.”
“No, you didn’t.”
His face reddened.
Marcus put a calming hand on the young man’s shoulder.
“Take your time.”
Vivian turned toward Dominic.
“This is being built around me.”
Dominic wanted to tell her he believed her.
Instead he saw Ethan lifting that fork.
He saw the tested sample.
He saw the receipt.
A father cannot gamble with evidence because his heart prefers another answer.
Vivian’s eyes filled.
“Look at me, Dominic.”
He did.
“Do you believe I tried to kill your son?”
His jaw tightened.
“I don’t know.”
Her face changed.
Not dramatically.
That made it worse.
Something simply went quiet behind her eyes.
Dominic hated himself for seeing it.
But Ethan was upstairs.
Alive.
That had to matter more than love.
Three days later, Dominic postponed the wedding and ordered Vivian to remain in the east wing while the investigation continued.
He told himself confinement was protection as much as suspicion.
Vivian listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she said, “One day you’re going to learn I didn’t do this.”
Dominic turned toward the window.
“I hope I do.”
She gave a painful little laugh.
“No. You hope you don’t.”
He looked at her.
“Because if I’m guilty, you only lose me. If I’m innocent, you have to ask who taught you to doubt me.”
May you like
Then she walked away.
The answer came from Lily.
