Chapter 19 - The Morning After
By sunrise, the wedding was national news.
Not because of the flowers.
Not because of the ballroom.
Not because of the dress.
Because an ambulance had left the reception, police had entered before midnight, and guests had recorded enough video to feed every gossip site in America.
My phone had more than nine hundred notifications.
I turned it off.
Vivian was arrested pending multiple charges related to tampering, fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. Martin Cole was in custody. Dr. Hart’s medical license was under emergency review. Neil had surrendered his devices and agreed to cooperate.
Richard remained in the hospital but was improving.
Meridian’s board froze every extraordinary transaction.
The company was safe.
At least for now.
Ethan and I sat alone in the bridal suite at the venue.
Staff had removed most of the flowers.
My bouquet lay on a chair, slightly wilted.
He looked exhausted.
“So,” he said quietly. “Worst wedding ever?”
A laugh escaped me before I could stop it.
Then I cried.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
Everything I had held inside since the champagne glass broke open at once.
Ethan did not touch me until I reached for him.
Then he held me.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“For what your mother did?”
“For what I didn’t tell you.”
I pulled back.
“The NDA.”
“Yes.”
“The prospectus.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
He looked me in the eye.
“No.”
I studied him.
“You understand I’m going to verify that.”
“I hope you do.”
That answer mattered.
I reached into my purse and took out my ring.
He looked at it but said nothing.
“I don’t know what happens next,” I said.
“Neither do I.”
“I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“That is not enough.”
“I know.”
I slid the ring onto my finger anyway.
Not as forgiveness.
Not as a promise that nothing had changed.
As a promise that I would decide for myself.
Ethan looked down at it.
“You’re staying?”
“For today.”
He nodded, accepting exactly what I gave him.
Then someone knocked.
Rachel opened the door.
“There’s a reporter outside.”
“No.”
“She says she has something you need to see.”
“I really don’t.”
Rachel held up a printed photograph.
It showed Vivian entering the ballroom before the ceremony.
Beside her was a man carrying a silver catering case.
The timestamp was 4:12 p.m.
Rachel said, “Police identified him.”
I felt Ethan tense.
“Who is he?”
Rachel looked at us both.
“He works for Meridian.”
My stomach dropped.
“Who?”
She turned the photograph around.
May you like
It was our head of cybersecurity.
And he had been standing inside the champagne service area two hours before the toast.
