. CHAPTER 4 — The Blanket on His Knees
The blanket became Vanessa’s favorite prop.
She tugged at one corner with two manicured fingers, as if inspecting something dirty. “Is this necessary?” she asked. “It ruins the whole color palette.”
Clara reached for it, but Adam shook his head once. He wanted every second to continue. He wanted no one to say later that Vanessa had been misunderstood.
Vanessa leaned closer. “Do you know what people are saying? They’re saying I’m noble for staying. They’re saying I must really love you.” Her smile hardened. “I hate being pitied because of you.”
Adam looked past her to the guests. His board chairman stood near the fountain, face gray. Vanessa’s mother, Lydia, watched with a thin smile, not horrified, only calculating whether the scene could still be controlled.
Then Vanessa did something Adam had not expected.
She placed one hand on his shoulder and pushed him back against the chair—not hard enough to injure, but hard enough to humiliate. The guests saw it. The cameras saw it. Clara saw it and covered her mouth.
“Careful,” Vanessa said sweetly. “You might fall.”
Adam felt something inside him go cold.
Not pain. Decision.
His private attorney, Marcus Reed, stood behind the last row pretending to read an email. At Adam’s signal, Marcus touched his phone. The hidden cameras began streaming to a secure drive and to the large screen prepared for the engagement slideshow.
Vanessa did not know the screen had changed.
She bent so close that only Adam and the recording microphone could hear her clearly.
“After the wedding, I’ll move you to the east wing,” she said. “Quiet rooms, private nurses, no board meetings. You can keep your dignity there.”
Adam’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“And you?”
Vanessa’s eyes glittered.
May you like
“I’ll keep the name.”
Behind them, the projector flickered alive.
