Alexander wore a gray suit tailored perfectly across his shoulders.
His expression was calm.
Too calm for a man whose life was about to be destroyed.
Margaret grabbed his hands.
“You cannot marry her.”
James looked toward the closed library doors.
Alexander studied his mother’s face.
“What happened?”
“I saw Vanessa.”
Margaret struggled to breathe.
“She was kissing another man.”
Alexander said nothing.
“She called him Daniel. They were discussing your company and a document you’re supposed to sign after the ceremony.”
Still, he showed no surprise.
Margaret stared at him.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“She is using you.”
“I know.”
Her hands fell away.
“What?”
Alexander reached into his jacket and removed his phone.
On the screen was a photograph of Vanessa kissing Daniel in the same library.
Margaret looked from the image to her son.
“You already knew?”
“For six weeks.”
“Then why are you standing here dressed for your wedding?”
“Because canceling the ceremony would give them time to destroy the evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Alexander swiped across the screen.
There were photographs of Vanessa entering hotels with Daniel.
Copies of secret bank transfers.
Messages discussing a plan to gain access to Whitmore Holdings through marriage.
A recording captured Daniel promising Vanessa that Alexander would be removed from the board within a year.
Margaret’s eyes filled with tears.
“How long has this been happening?”
“Before she accepted my proposal.”
“And you let her plan this entire wedding?”
“I let her believe I was blind.”
Margaret glanced toward the ballroom.
Hundreds of guests waited inside.
Vanessa’s father, Senator Richard Caldwell, was preparing for a run for governor.
Her mother, Helena, controlled one of the largest medical charities in New England.
Reporters had been invited to document every detail.
“You have to leave,” Margaret whispered. “We can announce that you became ill.”
“No.”
“You cannot walk into that room and marry a woman who has been lying to you.”
“I’m not going to marry her.”
“Then what are you doing?”