Chapter 4 - The Hidden Ledger
A giant projector screen,
meant to show a romantic montage of the couple's journey,
suddenly hissed to life on the side of the manor wall.
The guests turned,
expecting to see photos of sunsets and kisses.
Instead,
they saw a video call interface.
The face on the screen was not Lenora's,
but a man in a dark suit—the family’s lead investigator.
"Mr. Pembroke,"
the man’s voice boomed through the speakers,
commanding the attention of every guest.
"We have successfully intercepted the final transmission from Marlowe Sutter’s private server."
Marlowe lunged for the controls near the DJ booth,
but a security guard stepped in her way,
his expression like granite.
The screen shifted to show a series of documents.
They were contracts for the sale of various Pembroke heritage properties,
all signed with Julian’s name.
"I didn't sign those,"
Julian whispered,
staring at the screen in horror.
"The signatures were forged,"
the investigator continued.
"Using a digital recreation of your handwriting found on Marlowe's personal tablet.
The funds were set to be diverted to an offshore account in the Cayman Islands,
under the name of a shell company called 'Ivy Holdings'."
The screen then switched to a video recording.
It was Marlowe,
taken three days ago in the library she thought was empty.
She was on the phone,
her voice sharp and cold,
completely different from the sweet bride she pretended to be.
"Once the wedding is over and the trust access is finalized,
we sell the manor,"
the recorded Marlowe said.
"Julian is too blinded by me to notice until it's too late.
And his mother?
I’ll have her moved to a 'quiet' facility by the end of the year.
She’s a relic.
She’s in the way."
The guests gasped,
the sound like a wave hitting the shore.
Julian stepped back from Marlowe as if she were a viper.
"You were going to lock my mother away?"
he asked,
his voice shaking with a mixture of grief and fury.
"You were going to sell our family home?"
Marlowe looked around,
seeing the judgment in every eye.
She tried to find a way to spin it,
to lie her way out,
but the evidence was screaming from the walls.
"Julian,
I did it for us!"
she cried,
stepping toward him.
"We could have been free from her!
We could have had our own empire!"
"Our empire was built on honor,"
a voice said from the manor steps.
Everyone turned to see Lenora.
She was still wearing the wine-stained dress.
She held her phone in her hand,
May you like
the quiet video call still active,
connecting the garden to the legal authorities who were already at the estate gates.
