CHAPTER 9: THE FIRST ENVELOPE
The ballroom became completely silent.
Connor read the medical report again.
Then again.
His fingers began to shake.
“What is this?”
“You know what it is,” I said.
He looked at Alyssa.
“You told me the procedure failed.”
“I thought it had.”
“You accessed the follow-up results.”
Her mouth opened, but no words came out.
I turned toward the guests.
“The medical evidence confirms Connor could not have naturally fathered a child during the period when Alyssa became pregnant.”
Alyssa recovered quickly.
“We used a stored sample.”
Connor looked at her sharply.
“What stored sample?”
“The private clinic.”
She reached for the invoice Betsy had previously found.
But Parker stepped forward.
“The invoice is fraudulent.”
Connor’s eyes moved from Parker to me.
“You planned this.”
“No. Alyssa and Evan planned it.”
At the sound of his name, Evan rose from a table near the front.
“This is ridiculous.”
I held up the photograph of him kissing Alyssa.
A low murmur spread through the room.
Connor walked down from the altar.
He stared at the photograph.
Then he struck Evan across the mouth.
Guests screamed and stepped backward.
Evan stumbled against a chair.
“You told me she was obsessed with you,” Connor said.
“She is.”
Alyssa’s voice cracked.
“Stop lying.”
Connor turned toward her.
“Is he the father?”
She pressed both hands over her stomach.
“I don’t know.”
Evan laughed bitterly.
“Yes, you do.”
The expression on Alyssa’s face changed.
Not fear.
Rage.
“You promised we would leave together.”
Connor lunged toward Evan again, but hotel security moved between them.
Reporters began recording openly.
The wedding had transformed into the exact scandal Connor had feared.
Then Alyssa pointed at Parker.
“He paid me.”
Parker did not react.
Connor looked confused.
“What?”
“She approached me months ago,” Alyssa said, pointing at me. “She wanted to destroy your reputation. Parker offered me money to pretend the child was yours.”
It was a desperate lie.
But for several seconds, the guests did not know whom to believe.
Then I extended the second sealed envelope.
“This one contains the money trail.”
Connor ripped it from my hand.
Inside were the Blue Crest transfers, the false clinic invoice, the condominium purchase, and the acquisition agreement bearing Parker’s forged signature.
Connor’s face changed as he read.
Then he reached the final page.
May you like
A formal notice from the trust informed him that his executive authority had been suspended.
The company he believed he owned had removed him before he finished reading the letter.
