Chapter 3
Then I drank the champagne and walked out.
Marcus Reed was waiting beside a black sedan at the foot of the steps.
He was the restructuring adviser retained by Vale Biomedical’s independent directors.
Nathan hated him.
Mostly because Marcus had numbers for every opinion.
“How bad?” Marcus asked.
Behind me, the conservatory doors opened.
Three directors hurried toward the library.
I handed Marcus the empty silver gift box.
“The wrapping was wasted.”
He looked inside.
“I warned you against theatrics.”
“You also told me to attend the wedding only if I could remain calm.”
“Yes.”
“I remained calm.”
“You revealed that the groom’s son is his nephew.”
“In a calm voice.”
Marcus sighed.
Then he opened the passenger door.
My hands began shaking.
He noticed but said nothing.
That was the first kindness he ever gave me that I trusted.
I got into the car.
As we pulled away from Vale House, my phone began vibrating.
One message.
Then ten.
Then fifty.
The wedding was already online.
But the most dangerous thing Nathan had done wasn’t cheating on me.
It wasn’t marrying Laya.
It wasn’t lying about Miles.
It was believing that once he had embarrassed me publicly, I would disappear quietly.
And at nine the next morning, he discovered just how expensive that assumption was.
Part 2
At 8:47 Monday morning, my company badge stopped working.
I was standing outside Vale Biomedical headquarters in Cambridge with coffee in one hand and three television crews across the street.
The security guard looked miserable.
“I’m sorry, Ms. Hart.”
“Don’t be. You’re doing your job.”
He placed my badge inside an envelope.
By then, the wedding video had seven million views.
My question about whether Miles should call Nathan “Dad or Uncle” had become a headline.
Someone turned my silver gift box into a meme.
Someone else sold coffee mugs reading CHECK THE PATERNITY REPORT.
None of it felt funny.
Because Nathan had acted quickly.
At 7:05 a.m., his attorney released a statement accusing me of unlawfully exposing private medical information.
At 7:30, Nathan gave a television interview.
Laya sat beside him.
Miles did not.
“Olivia and I shared an important chapter,” Nathan told the reporter. “Unfortunately, she has had difficulty accepting that our relationship ended.”
I watched from my kitchen.
He wore the navy tie I had given him for his thirty-third birthday.
“Ms. Hart used her corporate position to obtain sensitive information about our child.”