Chapter 6: The Voice in the Bridal Suite
Daniel reached the bridal suite before Lauren could close the door.
“Move,” she shouted.
“No.”
Victoria pushed past him and rushed toward an open laptop.
A progress bar glowed across the screen.
DELETING FILES: 64%.
Sophie slipped beneath Daniel’s arm and pulled the charger from the wall.
“That won’t stop it,” Lauren said.
“The deletion is already running.”
Sophie pressed the power button.
“The copies are stored online.”
Lauren’s smile vanished.
“You told me they were only on the laptop.”
“I stopped trusting you this morning.”
Victoria seized a glass of water and raised it over the keyboard.
Richard caught her wrist.
“Put it down.”
“Let go of me.”
“You planted the bracelet.
You helped take Margaret’s documents.
I heard enough.”
“You heard nothing.”
Richard took a small recorder from his pocket and placed it on the dressing table.
Victoria stared at it.
“What is that?”
“I started recording after you told me Margaret needed to be ‘removed from Daniel’s life.’”
Lauren lunged for the device, but Elena stepped between them.
“Nobody touches it.”
Richard pressed play.
Victoria’s voice came through clearly.
“Once the cottage is sold, Lauren can repay the private lenders.
Daniel will never leave her after they’re married.”
Lauren’s recorded voice followed.
“And if he refuses?”
“Then we show everyone the bracelet in Margaret’s bag.”
Margaret stood in the doorway, one hand over her mouth.
Victoria turned toward her.
“You don’t understand.
Lauren was desperate.”
“You made me look like a thief.”
“I was protecting my child.”
Margaret lowered her hand.
“By destroying mine?”
Victoria looked away.
Daniel picked up the laptop.
“This goes to the bank’s investigator.”
Lauren blocked the doorway.
“Give me five minutes alone with you.”
“No.”
“I can explain everything.”
“You have been explaining all day.”
Lauren lowered her voice.
“Marry me privately next week.
I’ll cancel the loan and leave your mother’s house alone.”
Margaret’s eyes widened.
Daniel stared at Lauren.
“You are offering not to take my mother’s home if I marry you?”
“I am offering us a way out.”
“There is no ‘us.’”
Lauren’s face twisted.
“Then I’ll tell everyone you approved the loan.
Your digital signature is on the preliminary form.”
Daniel stopped.
Victoria stepped beside her daughter.
“The bank will believe paperwork, not wedding gossip.”
For one terrible moment, nobody spoke.
Lauren smiled.
“You canceled the wedding in front of two hundred people.
Now you can explain to those same people why your name is on a fraudulent application.”
Margaret took the laptop from Daniel.
“Then we will explain it together.”
Lauren laughed.
“They’ll say you coached him.”
A voice came from the hallway.
“No, they won’t.”
The loan broker, Owen Price, stood beside Elena.
His tie was loose, and sweat darkened his collar.
Lauren’s face emptied.
Owen held out a folder.
“Mrs.
Mercer’s signature was copied from a tax form.
Lauren sent it to me.”
“You liar,” Lauren said.
“You promised the loan would be repaid after the wedding.”
“And you believed me because I paid you.”
Owen looked toward Margaret.
“I have emails, transfer records and the original files.”
Victoria stepped backward.
“Richard, we should leave.”
Richard did not move.
“You may leave when Margaret has what she needs.”
Elena’s assistant appeared at the door.
“There is a woman downstairs asking for Margaret,” she said.
“Her name is Claire Mason.”
“Who is she?” Daniel asked.
May you like
The assistant glanced at Lauren.
“She says Lauren tried the same thing with her mother three years ago.”
