Chapter 9: The Enemy at My Wedding
Nobody moved.
Richard Vale stood at the entrance like he belonged there.
Like this was his event.
Like my wedding hadn’t already been destroyed enough.
He slowly walked into the ballroom.
His expensive shoes clicked against the floor.
Martha immediately moved toward him.
“Why are you here?””
Richard smiled.
“That’s an interesting question coming from you.””
Nick stepped between them.
“You need to leave.””
Richard looked amused.
“Your father said the same thing once.””
The room went quiet.
I felt my stomach drop.
“My father knew him.””
Richard looked at me.
“Yes.””
His smile disappeared.
“I knew your father very well.””
“Did you kill him?””
The question came out before I could stop it.
Every person in the room froze.
Richard didn’t answer immediately.
Then he laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make my skin crawl.
“You really are Daniel’s daughter.””
“What does that mean?””
“It means you ask dangerous questions.””
Nick clenched his fists.
“Answer her.””
Richard looked at him.
“You have no idea what your family has been hiding.””
Nick’s voice was cold.
“Neither do you.””
Richard smiled.
“I know more than anyone here.””
Martha stepped forward.
“Richard, this has gone too far.””
He looked at her.
“Now you’re worried?””
Her face went pale.
I noticed it.
The fear between them.
Not friendship.
Not partnership.
Fear.
“You threatened her,” I said.
Richard looked at me.
“Your mother-in-law and I had an agreement.””
Martha closed her eyes.
“Don’t.””
But he continued.
“She wanted you away from the inheritance.””
The room erupted.
Nick turned toward his mother.
“Agreement?””
Martha looked ashamed.
Only for a second.
Then anger replaced it.
“He was supposed to make sure Emma never discovered the truth.””
I felt like I had been punched.
“You hired him?””
“No.””
Martha looked at me.
“I asked for help.””
“Help?””
I pointed around the room.
“You brought a stranger into my life?””
“He wasn’t a stranger.””
Richard smiled.
“She knew exactly who I was.””
Thomas stepped forward.
“You both worked together.””
Richard shrugged.
“For a while.””
Evelyn looked disgusted.
“You destroyed Daniel’s family.””
Richard’s expression hardened.
“Daniel destroyed himself.””
“No,” Thomas said.
“You betrayed him.””
Richard laughed.
“You people still believe that?””
I looked at him.
“What happened to my father?””
He stared at me.
Then slowly walked closer.
“Your father discovered something.””
“What?””
“He discovered your mother had evidence against me.””
My breath caught.
“My mother?””
Richard nodded.
“Your mother wasn’t running away from you, Emma.””
Every sound disappeared.
“She was running from him.””
I felt tears fill my eyes.
All my life, I believed the opposite.
I believed my mother left.
I believed my father disappeared.
I believed I was the child nobody wanted.
But maybe…
Maybe I had been wrong.
Richard continued.
“Your mother found proof that I was stealing from Daniel’s company.””
Martha looked at him.
“You said you handled it.””
Richard turned toward her.
“I did.””
My blood ran cold.
“What does that mean?””
Nobody answered.
Richard looked at me.
“It means your father didn’t die because of an accident.””
Nick stepped forward.
“Then say it.””
Richard smiled slightly.
“Your father was murdered.””
The words crushed the room.
I couldn’t breathe.
My father.
The man I spent years thinking abandoned me.
Was dead because someone wanted him gone.
Richard looked at Martha.
“And she helped cover it up.””
Martha screamed:
“That’s not true!””
But her voice broke.
And everyone heard it.
Nick stared at his mother.
“Mom?””
She looked at him.
“I didn’t know he would go that far.””
My heart stopped.
“You knew?””
Martha’s eyes filled with tears.
“I thought he was only going to scare him.””
Silence.
The kind of silence that changes lives.
Nick stepped away from her.
Like he didn’t recognize his own mother.
I looked at Martha.
The woman who cut my hair.
The woman who stole my inheritance.
The woman who spent years pretending to protect me.
And finally understood.
She wasn’t the beginning of the nightmare.
She was only one piece of it.
Richard turned toward the exit.
“Now that everyone knows the truth, I should go.””
But before he reached the door, Evelyn spoke.
“You’re not leaving.””
Richard stopped.
She held up a small device.
A recording device.
“I think everyone should hear what you said before you walked in.””
Richard’s face changed.
For the first time…
He looked afraid.
And then the ballroom speakers turned on.
Playing a conversation recorded hours before my wedding.
May you like
A conversation between Richard…
And Martha.
