Chapter 3 - MY CODE ON THE CAMERA
I had not used the code in four years.
Vale House claimed inactive employee numbers were automatically deleted after ninety days.
Mine had opened the security panel twenty minutes before the ceremony.
Robert signed the report confirming that fact.
The same code accessed his office after the fountain incident.
A locked drawer had been opened.
Inside, police found an empty folder labeled BOARD AUTHORIZATION.
Robert said documents were missing.
He suggested I had returned to the venue under the excuse of attending Chloe’s wedding and used old knowledge to steal corporate records.
Alexander nearly struck him.
I caught my husband’s wrist before he moved.
“Don’t give them another video.”
He stopped.
The fact that he needed me to say it frightened us both.
My purse had vanished from the terrace during the ambulance transfer. It was delivered to police two hours later by a server who found it beneath the wedding cake table.
Inside was a folded document bearing Alexander’s signature.
It authorized the sale of a forty-percent interest in Vale House Hospitality to Mercer Events Group.
Ethan’s newly formed company.
Alexander stared at the signature.
“I did not sign this.”
The paper also contained a spousal acknowledgment bearing my name.
I had not signed it either.
Robert insisted the original authorization had been kept in his drawer until I stole it.
The document in my purse made me appear both thief and participant.
I remembered leaving the purse beside my chair when Lily spilled Chloe’s wine.
Chloe had offered to “keep it safe” while I cleaned Lily’s hands.
I told Detective Naomi Grant.
She made no accusation.
She requested every camera angle covering the terrace.
Two had failed.
A third showed a bridesmaid carrying something resembling my purse toward the ballroom.
The woman denied touching it.
By morning, social media filled with an edited clip titled:
FORMER SERVANT RUINS HEIRESS’S WEDDING.
The video ended before Lily said Robert pushed me.
It included Ethan’s insult only after the sound had been lowered.
Then Alexander’s company board called an emergency meeting.
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The disputed sale authorization had already been sent to the lender three days before the wedding.
Someone had planned to use my humiliation to defend signatures that already existed.
