“You didn’t keep me from Claire because you thought she was unsuitable.”
No answer.
“You kept me from my children because their existence would cost you control of the company.”
“Julian—”
“You stole four years from us for shares?”
“I protected everything your grandfather built.”
“You protected yourself!”
His voice shattered across the ballroom.
Noah squeezed my hand.
I immediately crouched beside him.
“You okay?”
He nodded, but his eyes were wide.
“This is loud.”
“I know.”
“Are we in trouble?”
My heart broke.
“No, sweetheart.”
I pulled all three children closer.
“None of this is your fault, and none of you are in trouble.”
Julian heard me.
Something in his face collapsed.
He crouched several feet away.
Not too close.
Never assuming.
Never touching.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
The children watched him.
“I didn’t know about you.”
Miles looked at me.
I nodded slightly.
Julian continued.
“If I had known…”
His voice disappeared.
Lily tilted her head.
“Would you have come?”
He covered his mouth.
Tears filled his eyes.
“Yes.”
One word.
Absolute.
“I would have come.”
Vivian made a disgusted sound.
“This is emotional theater.”
That was when Brooke snapped.
She turned toward the woman who was supposed to become her mother-in-law in less than an hour.
“No.”
Brooke reached for her veil.
“This was supposed to be a wedding.”
She pulled the veil from her hair.
Several guests gasped.
Brooke dropped it onto the floor.
“But I am not marrying into this.”
Julian stared at her.
“Brooke…”
She gave him a sad smile.
“You don’t love me.”
The room went still again.
Julian did not answer.
Brooke nodded.
“I know.”
He looked ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.”
She glanced at me.
“You never stopped loving her.”
That one hurt differently.
Julian’s gaze found mine.
I looked away.
Brooke laughed softly through tears.
“And apparently your mother has been rearranging everyone’s lives like furniture for years.”
She turned toward Vivian.
“The wedding is off.”
Vivian’s mouth opened.
“Brooke, think carefully.
Your father—”
“My father will survive.”
“The merger—”
“Is also off.”
That hit harder.
Businessmen around the room began murmuring.
Vivian stared at her.
Brooke picked up the microphone from the ceremony stand.
“Since half of Manhattan seems to be recording this anyway, I may as well make one thing perfectly clear.”
She looked at the guests.
“There will be no Prescott-Hensley marriage and no Prescott-Hensley merger.”
Cameras rose.
Vivian looked ready to collapse.
But Brooke was not finished.
“And Claire?”
I looked at her.
“I owe you an apology.”
“You didn’t do this.”
“No.
But I used your pain.”
I frowned.
She took a breath.
“I sent the invitation because I needed you to notice the handwriting.”
A chill ran through me.
“You knew about the forged letter?”
“I suspected.”
“How?”
Brooke glanced at Vivian.
“Because I found three drafts of it in the safe.”
Julian froze.
“What?”
Vivian whispered, “Brooke.”
Brooke reached deeper into the folder.
Three sheets of paper.
Three practice versions.
Claire, do not contact me again.
The first with Julian’s signature badly imitated.
The second closer.
The third almost perfect.
A sound escaped Julian.
Not a word.
Just pain.
Brooke handed him the pages.
“Vivian practiced your signature.”
My vision blurred.
There it was.
The one piece of evidence I had come to expose.
Only it was worse than I had imagined.
It was not merely similar handwriting.
It was not circumstantial evidence.
It was
three failed attempts at forging the letter that had severed our lives
.
Julian stared at his mother.
