Chapter 10 - The Forged BrideMr. Brooks examined the signature.
It matched Emily’s banking certificate.
Her trust credentials.
Her verified digital seal.
Daniel looked toward her.
“You signed this?”
“No.”
Evelyn’s confidence slowly returned.
“The deal is complete.”
Emily stared at her.
“You forged my authorization.”
“Be careful.”
“No.”
Emily stepped closer.
“You used my name because you believed no one would question how badly I wanted to marry into your family.”
Evelyn said nothing.
That was exactly the logic.
A working-class woman engaged to an old-money heir would obviously sign anything.
Obviously tolerate humiliation.
Obviously accept a settlement rather than risk returning to an ordinary life.
Emily looked at Mr. Brooks.
“When was it submitted?”
“Four seventeen this afternoon.”
During the ceremony preparations.
“From where?”
He checked.
“Your father’s executive office.”
Emily stopped breathing.
The room changed.
Someone inside Bennett Holdings had helped the Prescotts.
Someone with access to her digital seal.
Someone trusted by Samuel Bennett.
Daniel whispered:
“Then my mother didn’t do this alone.”
Evelyn remained silent.
Vanessa looked toward her.
“You promised the financing was already safe.”
Emily turned.
“What did she tell you?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“That someone in your father’s office would submit the signature before the ceremony ended.”
Mr. Brooks immediately called Samuel Bennett.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
That was unusual.
Her father always answered emergency trust calls.
Then Emily’s phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
One photograph.
Samuel Bennett sitting inside his Manhattan office.
Alive.
Uninjured.
But beside him stood the Bennett chief financial officer—the woman Emily had trusted since childhood.
Her father’s second wife.
Emily’s stepmother.
The message beneath the photograph read:
The Prescott deal remains active unless Emily publicly confirms she suffered an emotional breakdown.
Daniel went pale.
Vanessa stepped away from Evelyn.
Mr. Brooks whispered:
“Miss Emily, someone is trying to force you to validate the story they prepared.”
Emily looked toward the torn veil.
The fallen bouquet.
The chair where Vanessa had been seated.
The family had not merely planned to remove her from the wedding.
Someone inside her own family wanted her declared unstable too.
Then another message arrived.
This time from her father’s phone.
Only six words:
Emily, do not trust my wife.
Emily raised her eyes.
The hall doors opened behind her.
Her stepmother entered wearing an ivory business suit.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at Evelyn.
Finally at Emily.
And smiled.
“The wedding may be over.”
A pause.
May you like
“But the merger belongs to me.”
TO BE CONTINUED.
