Chapter 4: The Signature Beneath the License
Daniel laid Claire’s phone beside the invoices.
“Show me the document.”
Claire lifted her chin.
“Call your attorney.”
“I’m asking my wife.”
“And I’m telling my husband not to accuse me in front of two hundred people.”
Ruth gripped the back of a chair.
“You stopped being his wife when you used his trust as a hiding place.”
“Careful,” Claire said.
“You’ve already interfered enough.”
Peter stepped between them.
“Do not threaten her.”
“I don’t need threats.” Claire nodded toward the envelope.
“Ruth hasn’t told Daniel what she offered me.”
Daniel faced his mother.
“What did you offer her?”
Ruth’s fingers slipped from the chair.
Claire answered for her.
“Fifty thousand dollars to leave you.”
A murmur passed through the guests.
Daniel stepped back.
“Mom?”
“I wrote the check,” Ruth said.
Peter turned sharply.
“You told me you only confronted her.”
“I was trying to find out what she wanted.”
“You decided I had a price?” Claire asked.
“That is what your loving mother thought of me.”
Daniel pulled off his bow tie and dropped it onto the table.
“You both hid things from me.”
“Daniel, listen to me,” Ruth pleaded.
“No.
You decided Claire was using me, and Claire decided I was too foolish to read what I signed.”
Claire moved closer.
“I never called you foolish.”
“You said I sign things and forget them.”
“Because you do.”
The words landed harder than a shout.
Daniel sat down abruptly.
Ruth reached for him, but he raised one hand.
“Don’t.”
Her hand remained in the air for a moment before falling to her side.
Claire picked up her phone.
“We’re leaving.”
Daniel stood again.
“You’re not taking that phone.”
“It belongs to me.”
“It contains evidence.”
“Evidence of what?
A message from an unknown number?”
Martin cleared his throat.
“It wasn’t unknown.”
Claire turned toward him.
He swallowed.
“The message came from my second line.”
“Martin,” she said softly, “think very carefully.”
“You told me Ruth would try to stop the wedding.
You said Daniel knew about the transfer.”
“I said no such thing.”
Martin looked at the tablet under his arm.
“It’s in the planning chat.”
Claire lunged for it.
Owen stepped forward and caught the tablet before it struck the floor.
“Give me that,” Claire demanded.
“No.”
“You’ll never work at another event in this city.”
Owen held the tablet against his chest.
“Then I’ll find different work.”
A woman in a gray suit entered through the ballroom doors.
She carried a leather case and walked directly toward Peter.
“Naomi,” Peter said.
“How did you get here so quickly?”
“Ruth called me from the garden.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“Company counsel has no place at my wedding.”
Naomi opened her case.
“This stopped being only a wedding when someone filed a voting proxy at 5:02 this evening.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Filed where?”
“With the company secretary.”
“Can you reverse it?”
“I need to see the original signature packet.”
Claire crossed her arms.
“You’ll receive it during business hours.”
Naomi looked at her over the top of her glasses.
“You filed a document giving yourself authority over Daniel’s shares, and now you refuse to produce it?”
“My attorney advised me not to discuss company matters with hostile trustees.”
The ballroom doors opened again.
A tall man carrying a briefcase entered with two uniformed security officers.
Claire walked to his side.
“This is Gavin Shaw,” she said.
“My attorney.”
Gavin handed Naomi a stamped copy of the proxy.
“Effective immediately, Claire controls Daniel’s voting interest until a court orders otherwise.”
“That signature was obtained through deception,” Ruth said.
Gavin did not look at her.
“Prove it.”
Claire took the microphone from Peter.
“As majority voting representative, my first act is to remove Peter and Ruth from financial oversight.”
Peter’s face went pale.
Daniel stepped toward Claire.
“You planned to take my family’s company at our wedding.”
Claire placed the microphone carefully on the table.
May you like
“No, Daniel,” she said.
“I already did.”
