Chapter 5 - Three Hundred GuestsBy four-thirty, Ashbourne Hall’s driveway was lined with Bentleys, Range Rovers, Mercedes sedans, and chauffeured black SUVs.
When our car reached the property at three o’clock, white delivery vans crowded the circular driveway.
Employees moved in every direction.
Half-constructed floral walls leaned against stone columns.
Cases of champagne were being rolled away while a frantic assistant argued with a vendor beside the fountain.
Above it all stood Ashbourne Hall, a limestone mansion with forty guest rooms, a ballroom, three gardens, and enough old-money grandeur to make every photograph look expensive.
It should have been beautiful.
Instead, it looked like someone had pulled the plug on a movie set halfway through filming.
Daniel sat beside me in the back seat.
Naomi was in front.
“You still don’t need to go inside,” Daniel said.
“I know.”
“If Marcus becomes aggressive—”
“We leave.”
“If he asks you to approve charges—”
“No.”
“If he claims verbal permission—”
“Still no.”
Naomi turned around.
“If Tessa throws anything, I’m throwing something back.”
Daniel sighed.
“You are not.”
“I said if.”
Our driver stopped beneath the portico.
Rebecca Sloan met us outside.
Yesterday she had sounded controlled.
Today she looked like she had aged five years.
“Thank you for coming.”
“I’m not sure you’ll still say that in twenty minutes.”
“I’m no longer sure of anything.”
She guided us inside.
Workers were removing a gold dance floor.
A cake designer stood beside six elaborate tiers while talking angrily into a phone.
The cake alone had cost $12,000.
I knew because Marcus had charged the deposit to me.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“Tessa knows.”
“Everything?”
“Enough.”
“What happened?”
“She demanded Marcus show her the agreement that supposedly gave him access to your account.”
“And?”
“He couldn’t.”
“Of course.”
“She started asking about the honeymoon. Apparently he told her the villa was already paid.”
“It isn’t.”
“I know.”
Rebecca looked toward the staircase.
“They’ve been screaming for forty minutes.”
As if summoned by the sentence, Tessa appeared above us.
She wore a satin robe with BRIDE embroidered across the back.
Her makeup was half finished.
One eye had lashes.
The other didn’t.
She stopped when she saw me.
Every muscle in her body went rigid.
“You came.”
“You called.”
“I didn’t invite you.”
“No. Marcus did.”
Her face changed.
“He what?”
Before I answered, Marcus emerged from the upstairs hall.
His tuxedo shirt was unbuttoned at the collar.
His hair was messy.
He looked less like a groom and more like a man who had spent hours learning that vendors possessed contractual rights.
“Evie.”
“Told you not to call me that.”
Tessa looked between us.
“You asked her here?”
Marcus descended quickly.
“To resolve this.”
“There is nothing to resolve,” I said.
“There is if you stop being vindictive.”
Daniel stepped slightly forward.
“Mr. Vale, I’m Daniel Kim, counsel for Ms. Hart.”
Marcus glared at him.
“I didn’t invite an attorney.”
“Neither did the forged authorization letter.”
That landed.
Rebecca looked away.
Tessa’s face turned pale.
Marcus pointed at Daniel.
“This is personal.”
“No,” Daniel said. “It became legal when you represented a forged document as authentic.”
“Enough.”
Marcus rubbed his forehead.
“Evelyn, please.”
That was the first please.
He walked closer.
I noticed something I hadn’t expected.
Fear.
Marcus was afraid.
Not heartbroken.
Not ashamed.
Afraid.
“You know I can repay you.”
“Can you?”
“Yes.”
“With what?”
“My equity.”
“In whose company?”
He hesitated.
Marcus had spent years describing himself as a startup founder.
The startup had never generated meaningful revenue.
Most of his lifestyle during our relationship had been subsidized by me.
“You know what Vale Dynamics will be worth.”
“No. You know what you hope it’ll be worth.”
Tessa stared.
“Marcus told me the company closed a thirty-million-dollar funding round.”
I turned toward her.
“It didn’t.”
“How would you know?”
“Because the investor he said led the round is one of my company’s vendors. I asked.”
Marcus snapped, “Why would you do that?”
“Because you billed a $9,000 celebration dinner to my card.”
Tessa took one step backward.
“You said you were worth twelve million.”
Marcus faced her.
“I am.”
“Then pay the vendors.”
“My assets aren’t liquid.”
“Pay them.”
“Tessa—”
“Pay them!”
Her scream echoed through the hall.
Several employees stopped moving.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“We will fix this.”
“How?”
“I need Evelyn to temporarily unlock the account.”
Tessa stared at him.
I almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
“You brought her here,” Tessa whispered, “to ask her to pay for our wedding?”
“It’s temporary.”
“With the card you said was yours?”
“I said I had authorization.”
“You said she gave it to you.”
“It’s complicated.”
That phrase.
I knew it well.
Marcus used it’s complicated whenever the simple truth made him look bad.
Tessa’s breathing became uneven.
“So she was telling the truth.”
Marcus reached for her.
She stepped away.
“You forged her name?”
“No.”
Daniel held up the copy.
“We have the document.”
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“Tessa, don’t listen to them.”
“To who? Your ex and her lawyer holding the paperwork you said didn’t exist?”
He turned back to me.
“All right. Fine. Tell me what you want.”
“Nothing.”
“Everybody wants something.”
“I want my card closed.”
“It’s closed.”
“Then we’re done.”
“You drove two hours just to say that?”
“No. I came because you said you wanted to talk like adults.”
He looked momentarily hopeful.
Then I continued.
“So talk.”
His hope disappeared.
Marcus glanced around.
“Not here.”
“Here is fine.”
“People are listening.”
“That didn’t bother you when you told them I gifted you this wedding.”
Tessa flinched.
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“You always cared more about appearances than feelings.”
I stared at him.
He was doing it again.
He was searching for the old version of me.
The woman who would defend herself.
Explain herself.
Prove she wasn’t cold.
Four years of our relationship had been built around that reflex.
If I worked late, he called me emotionally unavailable.
If I objected to his spending, I was controlling.
If I asked where he’d been, I was insecure.
If I needed reassurance, I was needy.
Every possible reaction became evidence against me.
Not today.
“Maybe,” I said.
Marcus blinked.
He hadn’t expected agreement.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
“You’re not even going to defend yourself?”
“No.”
His face tightened.
Tessa looked at me with an expression I couldn’t read.
Then Rebecca’s assistant ran into the foyer.
“Rebecca, we have a problem.”
Rebecca laughed without humor.
“Which one?”
“The caterer is leaving.”
“What?”
“They’ll serve hors d’oeuvres covered by the deposit, but they won’t prepare dinner without final payment.”
Tessa went white.
“Three hundred people are coming.”
The assistant nodded miserably.
Marcus turned toward me.
“Evelyn.”
“No.”
“Just authorize catering.”
“No.”
“I’ll sign a repayment agreement.”
“No.”
“Do you want three hundred innocent people to go hungry?”
Naomi whispered, “Oh, that is impressive.”
Marcus heard her.
“What?”
She stepped forward.
“You stole almost half a million dollars and somehow dinner is her moral responsibility?”
Marcus ignored her.
“Evelyn, one authorization. Fifty-six thousand. That’s all.”
“No.”
Tessa suddenly laughed.
It was sharp and broken.
Marcus turned.
“What?”
“That’s all?”
She stared at him.
“You’re begging your ex-girlfriend to buy dinner at our wedding.”
“Tessa, stop.”
“No, I want to understand.”
Her voice rose.
“The flowers were hers?”
Silence.
“The champagne?”
Silence.
“My dress?”
Marcus looked away.
Tessa’s hand flew to the robe tied around her body.
“My dress?”
I answered quietly.
“The deposit was charged to my account.”
She looked sick.
“The ring?”
That question surprised even Marcus.
I checked Daniel.
He opened the transaction file.
“There is an $82,000 jewelry purchase from Moretti & Lane approximately eight months ago.”
Tessa slowly looked at her left hand.
The engagement ring sparkled beneath the chandelier.
Marcus said nothing.
Tessa pulled it off.
“You bought my ring with her card?”
“I was going to reimburse—”
She threw it.
The diamond struck the marble floor and skidded beneath a console table.
Nobody moved.
Tessa’s voice shook.
“Was any part of this actually yours?”
Marcus stepped toward her.
“My love for you.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the foyer.
Rebecca closed her eyes.
Naomi whispered, “Worth the drive.”
Daniel gave her a warning look.
Marcus touched his cheek.
His expression changed from humiliation to rage.
“You ungrateful—”
“Don’t.”
My voice stopped him.
He turned toward me.
For one dangerous second, I saw the man beneath the charm.
The anger.
The entitlement.
The belief that women existed in categories: useful or disobedient.
Then he smiled.
Just as quickly.
It was unsettling.
“We’re all emotional.”
“No,” Tessa said.
She stared at him.
“I’m finally paying attention.”
Upstairs, a bridesmaid appeared.
“Tessa? Guests are starting to arrive early.”
Everyone froze.
Outside, tires rolled across gravel.
One car.
Then another.
Then another.
Marcus looked toward the windows.
He had run out of time.
May you like
The audience he’d spent months impressing was arriving.
And the wedding he had purchased with my name was coming apart in front of them.
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