CHAPTER 3 — THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT
I couldn’t breathe.
My name was printed on every page.
My initials appeared beside clauses I had never seen.
The signature looked almost perfect.
Almost.
My father read the first page.
“This agreement transfers the Harbor Crown, the Ashcroft Grand, and this hotel into Bellamy Hospitality.”
Bellamy Hospitality belonged to Eleanor.
It had been losing money for years.
Dominic rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was going to tell her.”
“When?” I asked. “After my family lost three hotels?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It has my forged signature.”
Eleanor finally recovered her voice.
“Dominic was protecting both families.”
My father turned toward her.
“Your company is forty-eight million dollars in debt.”
Several guests gasped.
Eleanor stiffened.
“That information is confidential.”
“Not to the institution that quietly purchased your debt last month.”
Her confidence cracked.
I looked at my father.
“You bought their debt?”
“I suspected someone was circling our properties.”
Dominic stepped toward me again.
“Vivienne, Bellamy Hospitality was collapsing. Thousands of employees could lose their jobs.”
“So you forged my signature?”
“I was desperate.”
“No,” I said. “You were calculating.”
I remembered all the nights he had encouraged me to discuss my father’s business. All the casual questions about hotel valuations, renovation budgets, and board votes.
I had thought he was finally interested in my life.
He had been gathering information.
My father’s attorney opened the folder labeled VIVIENNE — SIGNATURES.
It contained scanned copies of my driver’s license, passport, medical documents, and old Christmas cards.
Dominic had collected samples of my handwriting for months.
My stomach twisted.
Then another file appeared.
A recording.
The attorney pressed play.
Eleanor’s voice filled the ballroom.
“Once she leaves tonight, Dominic will tell her he needs space. We’ll give her the transfer papers tomorrow morning while she’s emotional.”
Dominic’s voice followed.
“She won’t sign if her father is involved.”
Chloe laughed.
“Then make sure she’s too humiliated to call him.”
The guests turned toward me.
Some looked ashamed.
Others looked furious.
Dominic stared at the screen as if he had never heard his own voice before.
I spoke quietly.
“You knew Chloe was going to tear my dress.”
He shook his head.
“No. I never agreed to that.”
“But you agreed to the rest.”
He had no answer.
Chloe’s groom, Ryan, stepped away from her.
She grabbed his sleeve.
“Baby, this is family business.”
Ryan pulled free.
“You falsely accused a pregnant woman of theft.”
The word hit the room.
Pregnant.
Chloe looked at my prenatal vitamins scattered across the marble.
Then she stared at my stomach.
“You’re pregnant?”
Dominic’s head snapped toward me.
“What?”
I closed my eyes.
I had planned to tell him after the wedding.
A private dinner.
A tiny gift box.
A photograph from the first ultrasound.
Instead, he had learned while standing beside documents created to rob my family.
Dominic’s face crumpled.
“Vivienne…”
Before he could reach me, a security officer entered through a side door.
“Mr. Ashcroft, we found something in the bridal suite.”
He held up a second diamond ring.
May you like
It looked exactly like Chloe’s.
End of Chapter 3…
