Chapter 6 - The Man at the Doors
Alden arrived forty-eight minutes later in a black overcoat, carrying a leather folder and wearing the kind of calm that makes guilty people raise their voices. The hotel manager walked beside him. Behind them came a private security supervisor and a notary who looked deeply uncomfortable to be at a wedding reception.
When the ballroom doors opened, the quartet faltered again.
My mother saw Alden first.
Her face changed so violently that several guests turned to look at her before they saw him. She whispered something I could not hear. Then, louder, “No.”
My father stood. “What is he doing here?”
Alden did not answer him. He walked to the center of the room with the steady pace of a man who had spent a career letting documents speak after foolish people exhausted themselves. I followed several steps behind him. The bruise-red mark on my cheek had darkened. I did not cover it.
Chloe clutched Mason’s sleeve. “Elena, why are you doing this?”
I looked at the satin gift box beside the cake. “You mean why am I not letting you take my home?”
Her eyes flashed. “Mom said Grandma wanted us to share.”
Alden opened the folder. “Evelyn Reed wanted many things. Being misquoted after death was not one of them.”
The room went silent.
My mother’s voice cracked. “You have no right to ruin my daughter’s wedding.”
Alden looked at her. “Mrs. Reed, your daughter’s wedding became a legal matter when you used it to coerce a protected property transfer and then struck the protected party in front of witnesses.”
Gasps moved across the tables.
My father stepped forward, then stopped when the security supervisor moved one calm inch closer.
Alden lifted one page from the folder. “The penthouse cannot be transferred, gifted, occupied, pledged, accessed, or represented as family property by anyone in this room except Elena Reed.”
May you like
Chloe’s mouth opened.
No words came out.
