Chapter 2: The Groom Who Knew Too Much
For three seconds, nobody moved.
Then a champagne flute fell from someone's hand and rolled beneath the wedding table.
Daniel Mercer stood beneath the floral arch, one hand still resting on the back of a gold chair. His expression changed the moment he realized everyone had heard him.
Brielle recovered first.
“He didn't mean that!”” she shouted.
“Daniel, tell them you didn't mean that!””
Daniel looked at the guests.
Then at Arthur.
Finally, he glanced at Nia, who had gone frighteningly still beside Ethan Cole.
“I meant she shouldn't have been brought here,” Daniel said.
“That isn't what you said,” Arthur replied.
“Arthur, please. This is a family matter.””
“Then why did you just suggest my daughter should have been killed?””
A murmur swept through the ballroom.
Brielle grabbed Daniel's wrist.
“Say something!””
He pulled away from her.
“Don't touch me.””
The words struck harder than a slap.
Brielle stared at her new husband. Her wedding makeup remained flawless, but beneath it her face had begun to crumple.
Nia gripped the back of a chair.
Ethan noticed immediately and moved closer.
“Sit down,” he said quietly.
“I can't.””
“You can. And you should.””
“I need to hear this.””
Ethan glanced at the white neck brace, then lowered his voice.
“You can hear it from a chair.””
Nia sank into the seat.
Across the table, Arthur had begun examining the photograph again. His fingers trembled against the glossy paper.
“Daniel,” he said, “how long have you known about the lake house?””
Daniel adjusted his cuff links.
“I don't know what you're asking.””
“Three nights ago. Where were you?””
“At home.””
“Alone?””
Daniel hesitated.
Brielle stepped forward.
“He was with me.””
Arthur's eyes narrowed.
“You just said you were with Nia at the lake house.””
“I never said that!””
“You said she shouldn't have been brought here.””
“Because she's ruining my wedding!””
Brielle grabbed a champagne bottle from the table and hurled it against the wall.
Guests screamed as glass exploded beside the dance floor.
“Everybody needs to stop treating me like a criminal!”” she shouted.
“I have done everything for this family!””
Arthur looked at the shattered bottle.
“Everything?””
“Yes! I managed Dad's companies. I handled the foundation.
I took care of Mom when she was sick. And what did Nia do? She played the helpless little girl while everybody felt sorry for her!””
Nia's eyes lowered.
For a moment, the ballroom disappeared.
She was seventeen again, sitting on the cold tile floor outside her mother's hospital room. Brielle had been twenty-three, already beautiful, already certain that the world owed her something.
Their mother had asked for water.
Nia had run to get it.
When she returned, Brielle was sitting beside the bed, holding their mother's hand and telling her how much she had sacrificed.
Their mother had smiled at Brielle.
Then she had reached for Nia.
“Promise me you'll always look after each other,” she had whispered.
Nia had promised.
Brielle had looked away.
Now, in the ballroom, Nia raised her eyes.
“You didn't take care of Mom,” she said.
Brielle froze.
“You made sure Dad never saw how often you left her alone.””
Arthur looked at his older daughter.
“What is she talking about?””
“Nothing!””
“You told Mom I was studying at the library,” Nia continued.
“You were actually meeting Daniel. You told her you were working late. You were selling her jewelry.””
“That was years ago!””
“You sold the emerald bracelet Dad gave her for their twentieth anniversary.””
Arthur's face changed.
He remembered that bracelet. After his wife died, Brielle had told him it had been stolen from the hospital.
He had never questioned her.
“Brielle,” he said, “did you sell your mother's bracelet?””
She lifted her chin.
“I was young.””
“You were twenty-three.””
“I needed money!””
“For what?”” Nia asked.
Brielle turned on her.
“You have no idea what it was like being the daughter everyone expected to be perfect! You were always the fragile one, the sweet one, the one Mom worried about. I had to earn everything.””
Nia stared at her.
“I was twelve when Mom got sick. I learned to change her sheets because you said the smell made you nauseous.””
Brielle's lips parted.
“I was sixteen when she died. You went on vacation three days after the funeral.””
“That was a business trip.””
“You posted pictures from the beach.””
Brielle slapped her palm against the table.
“Because I was drowning! Do you understand that? I was drowning, and nobody cared!””
Arthur's voice was quiet.
“So you stole from a charity?””
Brielle looked away.
Ethan finally stepped forward.
“Mr. Bennett, we should discuss the documents privately.””
“No,” Nia said.
Every head turned.
She swallowed against the pain in her throat.
“I've been told to stay quiet for three days. I was told that nobody would believe me because Brielle had already explained what happened. I was told I should be grateful she hadn't pressed charges against me.””
Arthur looked stricken.
“She threatened to have you arrested?””
“For attacking her,” Nia said.
“After she pushed me down the stairs.””
Daniel abruptly turned toward the exit.
Ethan blocked his path.
“I'm afraid you need to stay.””
“Get out of my way.””
“Not until the police arrive.””
Daniel's expression hardened.
“You have no authority to detain me.””
“No,” Ethan replied.
“But I do have a recording of you discussing how to dispose of a body.””
The room erupted.
Brielle screamed Daniel's name.
Daniel grabbed Ethan by the lapel, but two security guards rushed forward and separated them.
Arthur raised his voice.
“Enough! Someone call the police!””
“They're already on their way,” Ethan said.
He reached into the briefcase and removed the digital recorder.
“Nia's hospital room was visited by someone claiming to be a nurse last night. The hospital's security footage captured that person attempting to remove her medical records. The person was wearing a wedding planner's identification badge.””
Brielle stared at him.
“That's impossible.””
“Why?””
“Because the planner was here all day!””
Ethan studied her face.
“Interesting. I didn't say the person was your wedding planner.””
Brielle's lips pressed together.
Daniel stopped struggling.
Arthur looked from one to the other.
“Who went to the hospital?””
Ethan pressed a button on the recorder.
A woman's voice filled the ballroom.
Brielle's voice.
Clear. Calm. Unmistakable.
“If Nia wakes up, tell her she fell. If she remembers anything else, make sure nobody listens.””
Then came Daniel's voice.
“And if she tells her father?””
Brielle answered without hesitation.
“By the time she gets the chance, we'll have control of everything.””
The recording ended.
Arthur sat down heavily.
His daughter's voice had sounded so ordinary. That was the worst part.
He looked at Brielle.
“Control of what?””
Ethan opened a folder and placed several bank statements before him.
“Forty-two million dollars has been transferred out of the Bennett Foundation over the past fourteen months. Most of it went through shell companies. Some of it went into an account connected to Mr. Mercer's investment firm.””
Daniel's face went white.
Brielle shook her head.
“No. No, you can't prove that.””
Ethan placed another document on the table.
“This is the original authorization for the largest transfer. It bears Mr. Bennett's signature.””
Arthur leaned forward.
“That isn't my signature.””
“We know,” Ethan said.
“The signature was forged.””
Arthur looked at Brielle.
She began crying.
Not the delicate, trembling tears she had shed during her wedding vows. These were angry tears, accompanied by clenched fists and a voice that rose with every word.
“You were going to give everything to her!”” she screamed.
“The foundation, the estate, the companies! You were going to leave me with nothing!””
Arthur stared at her.
“What are you talking about?””
Nia turned toward Ethan.
His expression had changed.
He reached into the briefcase and removed the sealed envelope addressed to Arthur.
“This was recovered from your wife's personal safe,” he said.
“Your late wife left instructions that it should be delivered to you if certain financial irregularities were discovered.””
Arthur's hands shook as he took it.
He recognized the handwriting immediately.
His wife's.
For six years, he had kept every birthday card she had ever written him in a wooden box beside his bed.
He broke the seal.
Inside was a letter and a copy of a legal document.
He read the first paragraph.
Then he stopped breathing for a moment.
“What's wrong?”” Nia whispered.
Arthur looked at his older daughter.
Then at his younger one.
“Your mother knew,” he said.
Brielle went utterly still.
Arthur lifted the letter.
“She knew someone was stealing from the foundation before she died.””
He turned to the final page.
“And she changed her will.””
Brielle lunged for the paper.
Arthur pulled it away.
“What did she leave her?”” Brielle demanded.
Arthur looked at Nia.
“Everything she had the right to protect.””
But before he could explain, Daniel spoke from beside the guards.
“That's not possible.””
Ethan turned toward him.
“Why not?””
Daniel's mouth opened.
Then closed.
And Nia understood, with a cold certainty that made her injured body feel suddenly weightless, that Daniel wasn't afraid of losing the money.
He was afraid of what the will would reveal.
May you like
Because her mother had signed it just four days before she died.
And the witness listed beneath her signature was Daniel Mercer.
