Chapter 2 - Five People

Daniel ordered everyone except immediate family and security out of the ballroom.

The guests left slowly, whispering into their phones.

By midnight, the scandal was already spreading across social media.

Vanessa sat alone near the fireplace.

Her perfect makeup had begun to run.

Daniel stood across from her.

“Tell me who gave you the envelope.”

“I can’t.”

“You framed an innocent woman for felony theft.”

Vanessa looked toward me.

For the first time that night, she no longer seemed arrogant.

She seemed terrified.

“You don’t understand.”

“Then explain it.”

She shook her head.

“If I tell you, people will get hurt.”

Daniel slammed his palm against the table.

“Grace almost went to prison.”

“I know.”

“No, you don’t.”

I watched Margaret Harrington silently.

She was sixty-seven and had spent thirty years building the Harrington Foundation into one of the most respected charities in New York.

Her husband, Charles, had died eight years earlier.

After his death, she became the unquestioned head of the family.

The silver crest on the stranger’s sleeve belonged to the Harrington Legacy Council.

Only Margaret, Daniel, Daniel’s younger brother Ethan, family attorney Victor Hale, and foundation director Richard Sloan possessed one.

Five people.

One of them had either appeared on that recording or given his crest to whoever had.

Daniel asked Noah to enlarge the footage.

The image became grainy.

But the crest remained visible.

Margaret whispered something.

“Impossible.”

I turned toward her.

“What?”

She quickly shook her head.

“Nothing.”

That answer bothered me.

Marcus searched Vanessa’s purse.

The envelope was gone.

“What did you do with it?”

Vanessa swallowed.

“I gave it back.”

“To whom?”

She said nothing.

Daniel leaned closer.

“Vanessa, our wedding is in three weeks.”

She looked up at him.

“Not anymore, I suppose.”

“That depends on whether the woman I was going to marry is a criminal or someone being threatened.”

Tears filled her eyes.

“Both.”

No one spoke.

Then Vanessa looked at me.

“I was told Grace had something.”

My stomach tightened.

“What?”

“A key.”

I stared at her.

“I don’t have any key.”

Vanessa shook her head.

“They said you did.”

“Who are they?”

Before she answered, every light in the ballroom went out.

Margaret screamed.

Security flashlights snapped on.

Marcus shouted for everyone to stay still.

The backup generator activated seventeen seconds later.

When the lights returned, Vanessa was lying beside the sofa.

A broken champagne glass rested near her hand.

May you like

The housekeeper was supposed to be invisible. Instead, Sophia Hale becam...

Victoria: You will never get a single cent of this family inheritance! M...

The billionaire father was told his son had died. Then the maid smashed...

And written across the mirror behind her in red lipstick were five words.

STOP ASKING ABOUT THE KEY.