The movement was small, but everyone saw it.
She stood with her hand suspended in the air, her fingers curled as if they had forgotten what they were reaching for.
Richard began speaking quickly. “Vanessa, listen to me. This is a misunderstanding. The transfer was provisional. Nothing was finalized.”
“You forged her name.”
“I was protecting you.”
“You lied to me.”
“You were emotional. You would have ruined everything.”
Daniel stepped between them. “Everything?”
Richard turned on him. “You have no idea what it takes to provide for a family.”
“I know what it takes not to steal from one.”
Richard’s face twisted. “You think your parents can support you forever? They will die, Daniel. The house will be yours. The money will be yours. I was making sure you did not waste it.”
Thomas felt Margaret’s hand tighten around his.
There it was.
Not concern. Not protection.
Ownership.
Richard had looked at his daughter, at Daniel, at the estate, and seen pieces on a board. The wedding had only been the moment when he expected the pieces to fall into place.
Vanessa began to cry without making a sound.
Daniel looked at her. “Did you know he planned to take the house?”
“No.”
“Did you know he was using the wedding payments to cover money he had taken from my parents?”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
Thomas pulled the final page from the envelope.
“Your father has been withdrawing funds from the account we set aside for the wedding,” he said. “Not just the amount we approved. He redirected an additional eighty thousand dollars through a consulting company registered to his assistant.”
Richard’s mouth opened.
The assistant, standing near the caterers, lowered her face.
Vanessa looked from one to the other. “You said the budget was under control.”
“He made a clerical error,” Richard said.
The assistant shook her head.
“No,” she said. “He told me to create the invoices.”
Richard stared at her.
