“What does ‘we checked’ mean?”

“Ethan—”

“What does it mean?”

Marcus stepped beside me.

“It means Mrs. Montgomery’s representatives obtained confidential information concerning Olivia’s medical care during the divorce.”

The room erupted in whispers.

Eleanor pointed at Marcus.

“You have no right—”

“Actually,” he said calmly, “that is precisely what we are here to discuss.”

Caroline had not moved.

Her bouquet trembled slightly in her hands.

Then she asked a question I did not expect.

“Did they know?”

I looked at her.

“Who?”

“The attorneys. Did they know you were pregnant?”

“No.”

She closed her eyes.

For one second, she looked relieved.

Then Ethan stepped toward me.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

There it was.

The question I had rehearsed answering thousands of times.

“You signed papers authorizing your mother’s legal team to investigate me.”

“I signed financial disclosures.”

“You signed everything she put in front of you.”

“I didn’t know about this.”

“You didn’t ask.”

His face twisted.

“Olivia, those are my sons.”

“No.”

He flinched.

“They are our biological children. But being their father is something you haven’t had the opportunity to become.”

“That wasn’t my choice.”

“No. And that is the part I have to live with.”

Eleanor seized on it immediately.

“You hear that? She admits it. She deliberately concealed Montgomery heirs.”

“Mom, stop.”

“We need counsel here immediately.”

“Mom.”

“They belong—”

“They don’t belong to anyone!”

Ethan’s shout echoed beneath the chandeliers.

I had never heard him raise his voice at Eleanor.

Not once.

She stared at him.

Then Caroline spoke.

“Eleanor.”

Her voice was quiet.

Almost strangely quiet.

“You should probably stop talking.”

Eleanor turned toward her.

“This has nothing to do with you.”

Caroline looked at her for several seconds.

Then something changed in her face.

“Actually,” she said, “it has everything to do with me.”

And that was the first moment I realized the day was not unfolding the way I had expected.

Caroline handed her bouquet to a bridesmaid.

Then she walked toward me.

“Olivia, I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For bringing you here this way.”

Ethan stared at her.

“What are you talking about?”

Caroline looked toward Marcus.

He gave one small nod.

My stomach dropped.

“Marcus?”

He turned to me.

“There’s something I couldn’t tell you before today.”

My pulse accelerated.

“You work for me.”

“Yes.”

“Then tell me now.”

Caroline removed something from beneath the lace around her wrist.

A tiny flash drive.

“I invited you,” she said, “because six months ago, I found your name in a file that wasn’t about your divorce.”

Eleanor went perfectly still.

I noticed.

So did Caroline.

“What file?” I asked.

Caroline looked at Ethan.

Then at me.

“An acquisition file.”

My confusion must have shown.

“Acquisition of what?”

Caroline swallowed.

“Sinclair Digital.”

For several seconds, I could not understand the words.

Then I laughed once.

“You’re mistaken.”

“I wish I were.”

“My company isn’t for sale.”

“I know.”

“My board cannot authorize a sale without—”

“This wasn’t a legitimate acquisition.”

Caroline held up the drive.

“It was a plan to force one.”

I turned toward Eleanor.

She said nothing.

Caroline continued.

“My father was approached last year about joining a private investment consortium. They wanted political introductions, regulatory relationships, and financing contacts.”

A senator’s daughter.

Of course.

“What does that have to do with me?”

“The consortium’s target was Sinclair Digital.”

My hands went cold.