Chapter 4 - The Groom Who Returned to His Own WeddingBy noon, Adrian had made a decision everybody around him considered insane.
He was putting the wedding back on.
Claire Donovan stared at him across his penthouse study as if she were considering having him declared incompetent.
“You have a kidnapped family, fraudulent succession documents, an attempted shooting, a bride using a dead child’s identity, and a possibly-not-dead father running around Brooklyn. Your solution is to continue the ceremony?”
“Exactly.”
“That is the worst sentence I have heard in twenty-three years of practicing law.”
“The people behind this want the wedding.”
“Which is generally a reason not to give it to them.”
Adrian looked through the window toward Manhattan.
“They want me following a script. So I’ll follow it until they come close enough for me to see them.”
Daniel stood near the door.
“Too dangerous.”
Adrian turned.
“Then resign.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Not happening.”
Hannah sat on the sofa beside Lucy and Emma.
After their rescue, Adrian had moved the sisters into his penthouse under armed protection.
Hannah had barely spoken to him since.
Now she said, “Celeste told you not to trust him.”
Daniel’s gaze shifted sharply.
Adrian looked at Hannah.
“How did you know that?”
“I saw your phone at the warehouse.”
Daniel crossed his arms.
“And you decided not to mention it?”
“I’m mentioning it now.”
Adrian pulled out his phone and showed everyone the messages.
Daniel read them without expression.
Claire said, “Well, this day continues improving.”
Daniel handed the phone back.
“Celeste wants you isolated.”
“Maybe.”
“She has lied about her name for years.”
“Yes.”
“She bribed Hannah.”
“Yes.”
“She has documents arranging your death.”
“Also yes.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Then why are we treating her as a reliable source?”
“Because liars sometimes tell the truth when they’re afraid.”
Adrian left the study.
Celeste was being held in a guest room two floors below.
Police had not formally arrested her; the cash payment alone was complicated, and she claimed it had been compensation for confidentiality.
Adrian entered alone.
Celeste stood at the window wearing the same dress from the rehearsal dinner.
“You look terrible,” she said.
“So do you.”
“Liar.”
“Professional.”
She almost smiled.
Then Adrian placed her old school photograph on the table.
“Hello, Evelyn.”
The smile vanished.
“Where did you get that?”
“You underestimated my attorney.”
“I underestimated your maid.”
“Why did you bribe Hannah?”
“To create a public cheating scandal.”
“Why?”
“To stop you from boarding the honeymoon flight.”
“You could have told me the plane was dangerous.”
“And you would have believed me?”
“I was going to marry you.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
Adrian laughed once.
“You built our relationship on a fake identity.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever love me?”
Celeste looked away.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
It hurt more than Adrian expected.
“So you did.”
“I said it wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Why marry me?”
Her eyes filled, but her voice remained steady.
“My father spent his final years screaming that Victor Vale destroyed him. Nobody believed him. When I was fourteen, he died in prison.”
“Jonathan Cross stole—”
“No.”
She slammed her palm against the table.
“Your father stole everything. He created Alder Crest with my father and Martin Wexler. It was supposed to be an investment vehicle. Victor began using it to hide money. When regulators got close, he moved the records into my father’s accounts.”
Adrian said nothing.
Celeste continued.
“Jonathan went to prison. Victor became a legend.”
“And twelve years ago my father died.”
“He disappeared.”
“How do you know?”
“Because six months after his funeral, he contacted me.”
Adrian went cold.
“You were seventeen?”
“Eighteen.”
“What did he want?”
“To keep me quiet.”
“He threatened you?”
“No.”
Celeste’s laugh was hollow.
“He offered me money.”
Adrian could imagine his father doing that.
“What changed?”
“Three years ago, Victor approached me again. He knew you were preparing to sell a major part of Vale Meridian’s defense technology division.”
Adrian stiffened.
That deal was confidential.
“Why would he care?”
“Because the sale triggers an old partnership clause.”
“What clause?”
“Alder Crest becomes eligible for liquidation.”
“And?”
“And the records your father buried would become discoverable.”
Adrian understood.
“My company sale could expose him.”
“Yes.”
“So he wants me dead before it closes.”
Celeste nodded.
“But why the wedding?”
“Because marriage changes control of several trusts.”
“Not enough to give you the company.”
“I wasn’t supposed to get it.”
“Alder Crest was.”
“Yes.”
Adrian paced.
“You were part of this.”
“I was.”
He stopped.
She didn’t deny it.
“How?”
“I agreed to get close to you.”
“Why?”
“To find evidence proving what happened to my father.”
“You used me.”
“Yes.”
“And the plan to kill me?”
“I discovered that three weeks ago.”
“Why not warn me?”
“Because I didn’t know whom you trusted.”
“Daniel?”
“Especially Daniel.”
Adrian studied her.
“Proof?”
“Ask him where he was the night Victor Vale died.”
Adrian’s heart beat harder.
“Geneva.”
“No.”
Celeste stepped close enough to whisper.
“He was at a private airfield outside Lyon, putting Victor on a plane.”
Adrian left without another word.
Daniel was waiting outside.
Adrian looked at him.
“Where were you the night my father died?”
Daniel’s eyes changed.
Only slightly.
But Adrian saw it.
“Geneva.”
“Try again.”
Silence.
“Lyon?” Adrian asked.
Daniel exhaled.
“Yes.”
Adrian punched him.
Daniel fell against the wall.
Security moved forward.
Adrian waved them back.
“You watched me bury an empty coffin?”
“It wasn’t empty.”
“What?”
“Victor prepared a body.”
Adrian stared at him in disgust.
“You helped him fake his death.”
“I helped him disappear.”
“Why?”
“He told me there were people coming after you.”
“There were. Him.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“You kept this from me for twelve years.”
“I made a promise.”
“To him?”
“To your mother.”
Adrian froze.
“My mother died before my father.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No, Adrian.”
The corridor went silent.
“Your mother didn’t die in the boating accident your father described.”
Adrian’s mouth went dry.
Daniel reached inside his jacket.
He pulled out a photograph.
A woman stood outside a farmhouse, older than Adrian remembered but unmistakable.
His mother.
The photograph was dated four months ago.
Adrian could barely speak.
“Where?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“Why do you have this?”
“Because Victor didn’t fake his death first.”
Daniel looked at him with something close to pity.
“Your mother did.”
Adrian gripped the photograph.
Every fact in his life seemed suddenly negotiable.
His father alive.
His mother alive.
His fiancée living under another woman’s name.
The company built on possible fraud.
“What does she have to do with Alder Crest?”
Daniel answered softly.
“Everything.”
That afternoon, Adrian returned to the Grand Ashford.
The flowers were replaced.
The orchestra came back.
Security tripled.
Guests were told the ceremony would proceed as scheduled.
At four o’clock, reporters gathered outside as limousines arrived.
At 5:55, Adrian stood at the altar.
At 6:00, Celeste entered in her wedding gown.
The guests whispered.
Some had returned only because curiosity was stronger than common sense.
Celeste walked toward Adrian.
He held out his hand.
She took it.
The officiant began.
Then a man stood in the back row.
Gray hair.
Black tuxedo.
Victor Vale.
Adrian’s father smiled.
The entire room seemed to freeze.
Victor raised a champagne glass.
“Don’t stop on my account.”
Celeste’s fingers turned ice-cold around Adrian’s.
Victor continued walking down the aisle.
“You were always stubborn, son.”
Adrian stared at the father he had mourned for twelve years.
“You were always dead.”
Victor smiled wider.
“Only legally.”
Police reached for weapons.
Victor held up both hands.
“I came voluntarily.”
“Why?”
“To save my son.”
Adrian almost laughed.
Victor’s gaze moved to Celeste.
“From the woman standing beside him.”
Celeste whispered, “He’s lying.”
Victor stopped ten feet away.
“Am I?”
Then he looked toward Hannah.
“I believe Miss Cole has been wondering who paid the eighty thousand dollars.”
Hannah’s brow furrowed.
“Celeste did.”
Victor shook his head.
“She delivered it.”
He reached into his jacket and removed a bank transfer receipt.
“I supplied it.”
The ballroom erupted in whispers.
Adrian stared at his father.
“Why would you finance a scandal meant to stop my flight?”
Victor’s expression became suddenly serious.
“Because the plane was never supposed to crash.”
Adrian felt his stomach tighten.
“What was supposed to happen?”
“You were supposed to disappear.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at Celeste.
“Because your bride needed the world to believe you were dead before she murdered somebody else in your name.”
Celeste went pale.
Adrian turned toward her.
“Who?”
May you like
Victor smiled sadly.
“Me.”
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