Chapter 2 - The Drive
I had never seen Lauren afraid of my father.
Until that moment.
Dad held the flash drive between two fingers. “This isn’t about one shove.”
“Robert,” Vivian snapped, “you are ruining your son’s wedding.”
Dad looked at me. “No. I’m trying to stop him from making the worst mistake of his life.”
Lauren grabbed my arm. “Daniel, make him stop.”
I should have defended her. Twenty minutes earlier, I would have.
But my mother was standing behind us with grass on her dress and a red mark forming near her wrist from the fall.
“What’s on the drive?” I asked.
Lauren’s grip tightened.
Dad answered. “Security footage.”
A low murmur moved across the lawn.
“From where?” I asked.
“Our house,” Mom said softly.
I turned to her.
She looked ashamed. “I didn’t know he had saved it.”
Lauren shook her head quickly. “This is insane. Your parents have hated me since we got engaged.”
“That’s not true,” Mom said.
Lauren laughed without humor. “You cried when Daniel proposed.”
“I cried because he was happy.”
“You never thought I was good enough.”
Dad stepped between them. “Stop rewriting history.”
The event coordinator appeared beside the microphone stand, pale and uncertain. Dad asked her for access to the reception screen. She looked at me.
I nodded.
Lauren grabbed my hand. “If you do this, you’re choosing them over me.”
“No,” I said. “I’m choosing the truth over guessing.”
Her expression changed.
Not hurt.
Calculation.
That was the first time I noticed it.
Dad plugged the drive into the laptop beside the podium. The large screen behind the floral arch turned black, then displayed a date from six weeks earlier.
Our family kitchen appeared.
Mom was at the counter.
Lauren entered the frame.
Then I heard Lauren’s recorded voice say, perfectly clear:
“If you keep interfering, Eleanor, I’ll make sure Daniel thinks you’re losing your mind.”
The guests went dead quiet.
Before Dad played the second file, I looked toward the back row and noticed people already lifting their phones. I hated that instinctively. This was my family, not entertainment.
"Phones down, please," I said. My voice came out sharper than I intended. "Whatever happens next, no one posts my mother on the ground."
A few guests lowered their screens. Others looked embarrassed and followed. Lauren did not.
She leaned close enough that only I could hear. "You are making this bigger than it is."
I stared at her. "You knocked my mother down in front of everyone. How small would you like me to make it?"
For a heartbeat, she looked furious rather than frightened. Then the frightened expression returned. That switch happened so quickly I almost missed it.
May you like
Dad did not miss it.
Beside me, Lauren stopped breathing.
