“Yet this paperwork says I signed it here in Charleston.”

Someone in the second row whispered, “Jesus.”

I continued.

“And the notary listed on the document died eight months before my supposed signature.”

The room erupted.

Victoria’s eyes snapped toward Marcus.

“You had no authority to investigate me.”

Marcus’s expression remained almost bored.

“I didn’t investigate you.”

He opened the blue folder.

“I investigated the theft of my client’s assets.”

The word theft landed differently.

Not family dispute.

Not misunderstanding.

Theft.

My mother looked toward the ballroom doors.

Two hotel security officers were standing there now.

They had not been there during the ceremony.

Neither had the woman beside them wearing a dark navy suit.

Daniel leaned close.

“Financial crimes investigator,” he whispered.

My stomach tightened.

I turned toward him.

“You called the police?”

“No.”

Marcus heard me.

“Neither did I.”

That confused all three of us.

But before I could ask anything, my mother pointed toward the screen.

“This proves nothing. Administrative documents are prepared incorrectly all the time.”

“Then you agree the signature isn’t mine?”

She hesitated.

That hesitation destroyed her.

Phones were appearing everywhere among the guests.

For once, Lila wasn’t the only person filming.

Victoria realized it too.

“No,” she said carefully. “I’m saying this circus is inappropriate.”

I lowered the microphone slightly.

“You cancelled my wedding dress behind my back.”

“Because it was cheap-looking.”

“It cost fourteen thousand dollars.”

“Money doesn’t make something elegant.”

The irony nearly broke me.

I stared at the discarded crystal monstrosity around my shoes.

A few guests actually laughed.

Victoria heard them.

Her nostrils flared.

That was when I understood something I should have understood years earlier.

My mother could survive hatred.

She could survive anger.

She could survive accusation.

What she could not survive was ridicule.

So I stopped protecting her from it.

“You replaced a fourteen-thousand-dollar custom gown with something that looks like Cinderella lost a custody battle with a chandelier.”

Daniel coughed into his hand.

Half the ballroom burst into shocked laughter.

Even Marcus’s mouth twitched.

Victoria’s face burned crimson.

And then Lila laughed.

Just once.

A tiny involuntary sound.

Mom turned on her.

“What exactly is funny?”

Lila immediately froze.

That familiar reaction hurt more than I expected.

Because I recognized it.

The shrinking shoulders.

The downturned eyes.

The instant apology waiting behind the teeth.

I had done the same thing until I was twenty-six.

“I asked you a question,” Mom said.

“Nothing.”

“Then stop behaving like an idiot.”

Something changed in Lila’s expression.

Small.

Barely visible.

But real.

She lifted her eyes.

And for the first time that day, she looked directly at me.

I saw tears.

Not guilt.

Fear.

She mouthed two words.

Keep going.

My pulse jumped.

I turned back toward Marcus.

He nodded almost imperceptibly.

What the hell was happening?

I clicked again.

The screen showed twelve bank transfers.

The first was for $275,000.

The second, $410,000.

Then $830,000.

Then $1.2 million.

All originating from companies held inside my grandmother’s trust.

All transferred during the previous four years into V.M. Heritage Holdings.

The total at the bottom was $18,640,000.

No one whispered now.

The room was silent.

I looked at my mother.

“Eighteen million dollars.”

Victoria’s voice cracked.

“You don’t understand how family holdings operate.”

“Then explain it.”

“The money was reinvested.”

“Where?”

“That is none of your concern.”

Marcus finally smiled.

It was not a pleasant smile.

“Actually, as the sole vested beneficiary of the Eleanor Monroe Trust, it is very much Isabella’s concern.”