agreement not to reveal confidential client information,’ I said. ‘I did not sign an agreement to hide fraud.’
The hallway went silent.
Then Richard Harrington laughed softly.
‘Careful, dear. Words like that require proof.’
I looked down at the key.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘They do.’
The handle rattled.
Tessa moved fast. She dragged a velvet chair across the carpet and wedged it beneath the door handle.
‘We need to leave,’ she whispered.
I turned toward the tall window at the back of the suite. It overlooked the service courtyard, where caterers were carrying silver trays through the rain. Beyond the vans and stacked crates stood my brother Jonah in his old black suit, checking his phone.
He had arrived late, probably after arguing with parking attendants who did not believe a shoe-shine man’s son belonged at the Harrington wedding.
He looked up at the window and saw my face.
His expression changed instantly.
I unlatched the window.
‘Mara!’ Caleb shouted behind the door. ‘Please don’t do this. My mother said if you hand it over, they’ll still pay you.’
I almost laughed.
Even now, they thought everything had a price. My silence. My shame. My future. My mother’s pearl button sewn inside a bouquet they would toss in the trash.
The chair jerked as someone pushed from the other side.
Tessa grabbed my bouquet and shoved it into my arms. ‘Go.’
‘I’m not leaving you.’
‘I’ll be right behind you. Move.’
I climbed onto the window ledge, rain striking my veil and cooling my hot cheeks. The drop to the courtyard was not far, but in a wedding dress it felt like a cliff.
Below, Jonah ran forward, arms raised.
‘Mara! Jump!’
Behind me, the chair scraped again.
The door burst open.
Caleb stood there, pale and terrified. Vivian appeared behind him, fury cracking through her perfect face. Richard Harrington’s eyes locked not on me, but on my closed fist.
‘The key,’ he said.
There was no charm in his voice now. No polish. Just command.
I turned on the ledge and looked at the family that had almost swallowed me whole.
‘Tell your mother,’ I said to Caleb, ‘I’m done knowing my place.’
Then I jumped.
Jonah caught me hard enough to knock the breath from both of us. We stumbled against a catering cart. A tray of covered dishes clattered to the wet pavement. Someone shouted. My veil snagged on a crate and tore.
‘Are you hurt?’ Jonah demanded.
‘No.’
He looked up and saw Caleb leaning out the window. His jaw clenched. ‘Did he do this?’
‘Not alone.’
Tessa climbed down next, less gracefully, cursing the entire Harrington bloodline under her breath. Jonah helped her land, then pulled us both toward his car at the far end of the courtyard.
We had almost reached it when a black sedan rolled into our path and stopped.
The rear window lowered.
Inside sat a woman I recognized from a photograph hidden in the back of Caleb’s desk drawer.
Evelyn Harrington.
Caleb’s older sister.
The daughter the family claimed had moved overseas after a nervous collapse.
She looked nothing like Vivian’s carefully edited stories. Her dark hair was cropped at her jaw. Her face was sharp with exhaustion, but her eyes were clear. She looked at my torn veil, then
