Chapter 4: What the Groom Heard
“Where are you?” I asked.
“In the hotel kitchen.
Vanessa thinks I’m speaking to the caterer.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.
Not yet.”
A door banged behind him, and his voice dropped.
“Meet me at the Westbrook Café in twenty minutes.
Bring your attorney.”
Thomas arrived before I did.
He placed a folder on the table and looked toward the entrance.
“If Owen is involved, we say nothing about our next move.”
“He married Vanessa an hour ago.”
“That does not make him loyal to her.”
Owen entered without his jacket or tie.
His wedding ring caught the light as he slid into the booth opposite us.
“Vanessa is looking for you,” I said.
“I told her my brother was ill.”
Thomas folded his hands.
“What did you hear?”
Owen placed his phone on the table.
“Yesterday, Daniel asked Vanessa whether she had filed the transfer.
She said yes, but she was worried Nora would notice.”
I leaned forward.
“Did you record them?”
“Part of it.”
“Play it.”
Daniel’s voice came through the speaker.
“Once the company owns the properties, Nora can complain all she likes.”
Then Vanessa answered.
“What if she calls Thomas?”
“She’ll be too busy defending herself after the wedding.”
The recording ended.
“What did they mean by defending myself?” I asked.
Owen rubbed both hands over his face.
“Vanessa said she would provoke you in front of the guests.
Daniel wanted witnesses who would say you ruined the wedding and became aggressive.”
“She struck me.”
“I know.
One of the photographers caught it.”
Thomas reached for Owen’s phone.
“May I send myself a copy?”
Owen unlocked it.
“Send it anywhere you need.”
“Why are you helping me?” I asked.
He stared at the ring on his hand.
“My mother lost her home when her second husband forged a loan.
I watched her work until she was seventy to recover.
When I heard Vanessa laughing about your face after she struck you, I couldn’t pretend I hadn’t heard it.”
The café door opened.
Vanessa swept inside, still wearing her wedding dress beneath Daniel’s overcoat.
“There you are.”
Owen stood.
“Vanessa, go back to the hotel.”
She saw the phone in Thomas’s hand.
“What did you give him?”
“The truth.”
Her eyes flashed.
“You recorded me?”
“I recorded Daniel.”
“You recorded your wife on our wedding day!”
“You became my wife today.
You started taking Nora’s home before we were engaged.”
Vanessa turned to me.
“You put him up to this.”
“I didn’t know he was coming.”
“You’ve hated me from the beginning.”
“I paid for your education, your apartment, your car and the wedding you just walked out of.”
“You did it so everyone would praise you.”
I slid the bracelet across the table.
“Take it.
It is the last thing you will ever receive from me.”
She did not touch it.
“You think canceling a few cards will frighten me?
I own the properties now.”
Thomas opened his folder.
“A transfer supported by a forged signature can be reversed.”
“Prove it was forged.”
“Nora can provide signature samples.”
Vanessa smiled.
“And we can provide medical records showing she forgets things.”
My chair scraped against the floor.
“What medical records?”
She looked at Daniel’s coat around her shoulders, then back at me.
“You should ask your doctor.”
Thomas rose.
“This conversation is over.”
Vanessa caught Owen’s sleeve.
“Come with me.”
“No.”
“If you stay, I’ll tell everyone you married me for money.”
Owen removed his ring and placed it beside her untouched bracelet.
“Tell them whatever helps you sleep.”
Her mouth opened, but no words came.
She turned and left, the hem of her dress dragging through rainwater near the door.
Thomas’s phone rang before we reached the parking lot.
He listened, then held up one finger.
“Who filed it?” he asked.
“When?”
He ended the call and faced me.
“Daniel filed an emergency petition with the court twenty minutes ago.”
“A petition for what?”
“To have you declared mentally incapable of managing your own property.”
May you like
Thomas opened the passenger door but did not look away.
“He attached a letter bearing your doctor’s signature.”
