Chapter 6: The Price of Silence
Nick opened the door before anyone could stop him and took the folder from Leonard.
“There will be no annulment.”
Leonard adjusted his glasses.
“You should read the trust conditions before deciding.”
Nick tore the papers in half.
Martha’s face hardened.
“You just threw away four hundred thousand dollars.”
“No,” Nick said.
“I refused to sell my wife.”
I stood beside him.
“And I haven’t decided whether I can forgive you.
Don’t turn this into a grand gesture.”
His hand fell to his side.
“You’re right.”
Martha smiled at me.
“There.
Even she doesn’t want you now.”
“This is between Nick and me.”
“Everything in his life is my concern.”
“That ended when you came behind me with scissors.”
Leonard cleared his throat.
“Mrs.
Hale, we should leave.”
“No.” Martha opened her handbag and removed the original license.
“She leaves, or this gets torn up.”
The officiant stepped forward.
“Destroying that paper will not erase the ceremony.
We can complete another copy with the witnesses present.”
Martha stared at him.
“You said the original mattered.”
“It matters as evidence of what you took.”
For the first time, her hand shook.
Mr.
Ellis held out his palm.
“Give it to me.”
“Delete every recording first.”
“The dance-floor file was deleted remotely using my office computer,” he said.
“Only three people had access tonight.
I was here.
My assistant was serving dinner.
You entered my office at 8:14.”
“You can’t prove what I did in there.”
A young waiter stepped from behind the bar.
“I can,” he said.
Martha turned.
“Who are you?”
“The person you offered five hundred dollars to forget you borrowed the manager’s keys.”
The waiter held up his phone.
“You recorded me?” Martha demanded.
“You told me no one would believe a waiter over the groom’s mother.
I thought I should test that.”
Martha rushed toward him, but Robert blocked her.
“Not this time,” he said.
Vanessa pressed record on her own phone and held it openly between us.
Martha looked at me.
“Call them off, and I’ll give you the license.”
“No.”
“I’ll tell everyone the video was misleading.”
“No.”
“I’ll give you fifty thousand dollars.”
I touched the uneven edge of my hair.
“You still think everything has a price.”
“You married my son for money.”
“Then why am I refusing yours?”
Her lips parted, but no answer came.
Nick took out his phone.
“I’m calling the police.”
Martha raised the license with both hands.
“If you make that call, I’ll tear it.”
“Go ahead,” I said.
She ripped the paper down the middle.
The sound was soft, but every person in the restaurant heard it.
Two officers entered through the main doors moments later.
Martha immediately pointed at me.
“She attacked me.
I have the video.”
One officer watched her edited clip, then looked at the torn license and the braid still hanging from Martha’s handbag.
“Ma’am,” he said to me, “did you give her permission to c*t your hair?”
“No.”
Martha lifted her chin.
“It was a family custom.”
The officer turned to her.
“Please place your bag on the table.”
May you like
She smiled.
“Before you decide whom to believe,” she said, “you should hear what the bride told me when no one else was listening.”
